West Tower Repairs 2006 - November 10, 2006 Work Party

1. With the assistance of a 25 ton crane (and 7 or 8 club members), we removed the damaged mast and replaced it with a 3" mast that is at least twice as strong as the old 2" mast would have been, even if the contractor had not weakened it by drilling a hole at the most vulnerable point (just above the top thrust bearing).
2. Lots of pictures were taken and, no doubt, a bunch will make it to our website before too long.
3. Both the 15 and 20 meter yagis have been reinstalled and are in working order.
4. The rotator has been temporarily reconnected, but use should be kept light until we have had a chance to grease the new 3" bearing.
5. There is some remaining follow-up work yet to be done, but none is essential prior to the commencement of the storm season:
   • grease thrust bearing
   • rebuild rotator cover
   • put in place more permanent electrical connections (extend conduit to new position of rotator box, cut wires and add crimp connectors, then reconnect to rotator).
   • replace the 20 meter yagi truss lines and related hardware
6. Inspection of the 15 meter yagi when we had it briefly on the ground confirmed that it will need to be replaced before long. Now that we have a 3" mast that can be safely climbed, that project can be done without incurring the cost of high priced equipment, such as the crane.

• Special thanks to Randy Ahlkvist who put in an enormous amount of time and effort -- and on certain aspects of the job, real craftsmanship -- to make this project a success.
• Dan Clark (club president)
• Larry Rebarchik
• Chris Christiansen
• David Wolfe
• Everett Palmer

1. Remove six meter yagi from the vhf/uhf tower to reduce load for storm season.
2. Install six meter yagi on telephone pole.
3. Repair rotator on Pro67A
4. Put in place permanent 1/2" Heliax feedlines for vhf/uhf antennas.
5. Repair four square (progress was made last Friday).
6. Purchase and install antenna switching system for the second HF station
7. Purchase and install band filters on each main hf station.
8. Purchase and install professional direction controllers for the East and West towers
9. Replace 15 meter yagi on West tower (propose to make design and construction of yagi a club project rather than purchasing a commercially available yagi).
10. Replace 40 meter yagi truss lines with Phyllistran lines (already purchased).

Let me know if you're interested in helping with any of these.

That's the update for now.

Thanks and 73,

John, W6LD