Rust prevention.; TOWERS

Wed Sep 27 18:35:41 EDT 1995

I THOUGHT THAT MOST OF THESE THESE INSTALLATION POINTS WERE PRETTY WELL KNOWN, HOWEVER:

ON THE SUBJECT OF TOWER CORROSION:

AA)
The bottom of the tower hole should have a load of pea gravel dumped into it so that moisture 
will be be able to drain from within the leg insides as outside temperature variations make the 
tower legs into water distillation units. The "buried" tower legs should rest in/on this pea 
gravel.

BB)
Be sure to NOT jam the tower legs into the dirt/mud in the bottom of the hole.
That just plugs the legs up so as to make them serve as water containers for (AA) action above, 
and prevents a timely ability of the legs to drain themselves.

CC)
A good coat of coal tar paint, or bitumastic based paint will help to prolong leg life and fight 
against corrosion of the tower legs within the concrete.

DD)
The paint should protrude above the concrete cap at the tower base.

EE)
The concrete cap should protrude beyond the level of the "dirt" and should be mounded so as to 
make sure that water runs off as fast as possible. I prefer a "double" cap; one for the poured 
concrete, and one that just surrounds the tower legs, and protrudes beyond the "total" pour. It 
can be shaped, smoothed, and sloped, so as to really make for a nice clean professional 
installation.

FF)
Lastly, although not an info piece on tower corrosion, but info that seems to always be new to 
installation crews with whom I have worked .......... USE A PLUMB BOB FOR ERECTION OF THE TOWER 
TO A TRUE VERTICAL ..... DO NOT USE A CARPENTER'S LEVEL !!

DROP THE PLUMB LINE WITHIN THE FIRST TWO SECTIONS OF TOWER (OR JUST THE FIRST ONE, IF THAT IS 
WHAT YOU START OUT WITH)  AND MOVE THE TOWER BY SMALL INCREMENTS SO AS TO MAKE THE PLUMB LINE 
FALL DEAD ON, RIGHT DOWN THE CENTER OF ALL TOWER LEGS, AS YOU WALK AROUND AND SIGHT IN.

SINCE YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF VERTICAL ALIGNMENT, YOU GET THE BUSCH, AND YOUR HELPERS GET THE WHEEL 
BARROW HANDLES !!!

(WHAT, YOU DRINK SOMETHING OTHER THAN BUSCH?)

73,
BOB

>From Jim Hollenback" <jholly at hposl62.cup.hp.com  Wed Sep 27 23:59:59 1995
From: Jim Hollenback" <jholly at hposl62.cup.hp.com (Jim Hollenback)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 15:59:59 -0700
Subject: Contest activity and scoring
References: <s06983ef.047 at wp.bsu.edu>
Message-ID: <9509271559.ZM25259 at hpwsmjh1.cup.hp.com>

On Sep 27,  5:01pm, Patrick Barkey wrote:
> Subject: Contest activity and scoring
>
>
> >>> barry <barry at w2up.wells.com> 09/27/95 02:08pm >>>
> Ai7b at teleport.com writes:
>
> >     Right on, Bill.....not much different here in the Northwest either.
> >     I don't think the average East coast op has a clue what its like out
> >     West.
> >
>
> W2UP replies:
>
> >    Come on... Enough already on the geographical advantages of the
> >    northeast. If contest scores are THAT important to you, move to the
> >    northeast.
>
> Duh, is this meant to be a realistic suggestion?  I think not.  The root of
> the situation is contest scoring, not where we live.
>
> One approach to the solid northeast USA top ten situation in DX contests
> might be to implement scoring changes such that QSO distance is
> recognized.  Another alternative might be to weight QSOs by signal
> levels as determined by an ionospheric simulation program.
>
> Given the complexity of such scoring systems, their implementation in
> "real-time" contesting is a bit far-fetched at the moment.  They could be
> applied after the contest, however, and I think the results would be very
> interesting.
>

Close Pat, but no brass ring. Volta and the *TG's use a distance based
scoring. It's done in real time, since it is based on zone. Guess you
could expand it to grid squares. But .... the northeast will still out
work the northwest 4:1 on qso's and mults. EU from 6-land is difficult
at this time of the cycle.

A better approach, which was done in the latest CQWW write-ups and also
by ARRL, is to reconize the regional leaders. You don't win against the
W1's, but at least your name is in a box and your not a footnote. Some
of us were born to be propagationally challenged.

73, Jim, WA6SDM
jholly at cup.hp.com

>From john.devoldere at eunet.be (John Devoldere)  Thu Sep 28 00:48:19 1995
From: john.devoldere at eunet.be (John Devoldere) (John Devoldere)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 23:48:19 +0000
Subject: CORRECTED OT5T CQ WW RTTY SCORE
Message-ID: <199509272347.AAA23208 at box.eunet.be>

Some may have noticed that a simple addition in the zones column was too
difficult for me...

Here is the corrected score, which I think is pretty final:

CALL: OT5T						

STATION: ON4UN
CLUB CALL: ON6MS
OPERATORS: ON6TT, AB4MJ (ON9CNC), ON4UN, ON1CIK
CATEGORY: MULTI-SINGLE HIGH POWER

BAND	QSO'S	POINTS	COUNTRIES	STATES/PROV	ZONES
10	7	15	7	0	2
15	148	416	54	27	23
20	837	2290	80	52	29
40	390	1056	59	39	20
80	173	389	48	24	12
TOTAL	1551	4166	248	142	86

TOTAL SCORE = 1.983.016  points

That's just under 2 Mi points...

73 and sorry for the error

John, ON4UN

PS. Cards are being made out this week and will be sent through the bureau
next week.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
john.devoldere at box.eunet.be  
Call us in all major 1995 contests: OT5T or ON4UN
John Devoldere (ON4UN-AA4OI)
POBOX 41
B-9000 Ghent (Belgium)

>From Jeffrey Yeager <jnyeager at southern.edu>  Thu Sep 28 01:17:01 1995
From: Jeffrey Yeager <jnyeager at southern.edu> (Jeffrey Yeager)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 20:17:01 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Protecting Recievers
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9509272053.A22347-0100000 at southern.edu>

    Does anybody have any proven ways to protect reciever front-ends from
going up in smoke when you forget and get on the wrong band or antenna after
being awake for ever?  Have heard of fuses or low voltage lite bulbs in
series with the rx line.  Specifics wanted PSE.  

    73  Jeff KQ4HC
    jnyeager at southern.edu

>From KQWB55A at prodigy.com (MR STEVEN K NACE)  Thu Sep 28 01:19:44 1995
From: KQWB55A at prodigy.com (MR STEVEN K NACE) (MR STEVEN K NACE)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 20:19:44 EDT
Subject: m/s 10 min rule loophole?
Message-ID: <013.01996188.KQWB55A at prodigy.com>

It seems simple. When the sponsors/log checkers see this obvious lame 
attempt
at using the loophole, they immediately make that log multi-multi. I 
believe it
happens often. de Steve KN5H

>From KQWB55A at prodigy.com (MR STEVEN K NACE)  Thu Sep 28 01:20:50 1995
From: KQWB55A at prodigy.com (MR STEVEN K NACE) (MR STEVEN K NACE)
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 20:20:50 EDT
Subject: m/s 10 min rule loophole?
Message-ID: <013.01996281.KQWB55A at prodigy.com>

It seems simple. When the sponsors/log checkers see this obvious lame 
attempt
at using the loophole, they immediately make that log multi-multi. I 
believe it
happens often. de Steve KN5H