I don't know about the zoning ordinance in your town, but our town's zoning ordinance and State law allow a grandfathered structure to be completely replaced, but the location and dimensions cannot b
I've been running SO2R for about 19 years, and I've had one or more SteppIR antennas for the last 15 years. Some of my experiences might be helpful. You've received many replies on this, and I agree
A year or so ago, my contest club YCCC moved its reflector to Groups.io. Today my local club did the same. There are many advantages to this, perhaps the biggest being the ability to post attachments
What an incredible story. That is one heck of a piece of hardware. Very sorry to see what happened, but it does look recoverable, at least to some extent. I have a question about the hoisting configu
I've had a US Tower MA770MDP 72' motorized rotating tubular tower up for about 22 years (purchased new.) I agree with Rick on the pulleys, though I've not had one fail. That may be because I don't ra
I agree that simply disconnecting the coax isn't enough, and that a quality whole house surge protector is a good idea. It certainly can't hurt. But I highly recommend designing the station so that *
Despite my way-too-long post, I forgot to address the question of whether all grounds should be disconnected during a lightning storm. As I mentioned, I don't have to unplug each and every devices in
I used solder connectors exclusively for many years, but switched to crimp a while back. I've had no problems at all. One reason I switched was because I had a few instances of problems with overheat
Not thyristors. They use Transient Voltage Suppressor (TVS) diodes in series with the motor control and pot lines. Now that you mention it, I may have had to replace the TVS diodes, too, but I can't
Yes, you're right, they shunt. I misread the schematic. Here's a link to the manual: https://www.greenheronengineering.com/prod_documents/controllers/docs/RT-21_ Manual_current.pdf The schematic is o
Good question. I used to try to solder the center conductor through the weep hole of N crimp connectors and ran into similar problems. I stopped doing it because the drawings for all the N crimp conn
You have to solder the center pin if it's not designed to be crimped, as is the case with LMR-400 compatible UHF crimp connectors like the ones from DXE. I believe the reason the center conductor is
I stand corrected. It's Amphenol part number 182130-10. The drawing indicates the center tube is 3.5mm in diameters, probably closer to 3mm opening. LMR-400 center conductor is 2.74mm, so it should f
I'm not an expert, but I did tram three 4-el SteppIRs, mounted on TIC rings, and a Cal-Av 2D-40A, mounted on the bottom of the mast, up my 110' Rohn 55 tower using a similar system. The SteppIRs are
I used 29 feet of EHS per guy, which put the lowest Philly at about 10' above ground (a somewhat tricky calculation as the tower is on steeply sloping terrain.) The tower is in a mowed field where gr
Davis Bury Flex is not the same as Times Microwave LMR-400 or LMR-400UF. The performance specs at HF are similar, but Davison BuryFlex is more flexible. Ive used it for rotor loops and rotating crank
I had a similar experience. A stack match was the only item on the tower that was damaged -- relays fused, PCB trace vaporized. But everything connected to my shack computer was damaged or destroyed.
Our town uses the term "accessory structure", and towers are accessory structures. Not sure what our homeowners policy says, but the lightning damage was covered (at least it was 13 years ago...) 73,
I use a Petzl professional full-body harness. They don't make the model I have anymore, but it's pretty close to the AVAO BOD FAST. The Petzl harnesses are lightweight compared with other industrial
I was going to ask the same question. So, if I have a safety cable that I climb with a wire rope grab attached to the front D-ring, the Y-lanyard can be replaced with a standard 1-hook fall arrest la