Problems in FN43MJ!
There will be no organized operation from K1WHS in the September
Contest. A last minute emergency has curtailed our plans to be on in force.
I had all bands up thru 10 GHz working very well. All of the 7 towers on the
hill are guyed with rock anchors into hard rock. During the last bad storm,
an entire set of guys were broken away from the rock as the rock anchor
failed. The failure mode was corrosion of a high strength 1/2" steel shank
causing it to break! I almost lost the entire tower, but have managed to
stabilize it with a few come- a-longs and some strategic trees. A quick
inspection of all of the guy anchors has shown significant corrosion to the
point where I believe the site is unsafe in the present condition. I am
trying to get the problem resolved as fast as possible, with new drilled
holes and rock anchors, but in the interest of safety, am limiting access to
the site just in case some more guy anchors fail.
The problem occurred as a result of high levels of Iron Pyrite, FeS2, in
the rock formation. It oxidizes and transforms to FeSO4 and can form acids
with mixing water and air. The steel near the rock is badly corroded, while
the portion of the steel above ground is undamaged and looks good as new.
Sorry, but there will not be a contest serious effort this weekend. I will
be working on preparing for drilling another 21 holes for new anchors
instead.
73
Dave K1WHS
-----Original Message-----
From: Herb Krumich
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2012 11:12 AM
To: vhfcontesting@contesting.com
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Sept Contest
We will be ready to go this weekend
I'm looking for skeds especially on 6 or 2 meters FSK scatter.
I will be on 50-10ghz with decent equipment
Please send me sked requests
Thanks
Herb at WA2FGK FN21 bf
wa2fgk@yahoo.com
www.wa2fgk.com
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