K1KAA

New Tower - 80' Rohn 25G - Was time for an upgrade, maybe new beams too?? (Top)

• 04/01/08 - Purchased tower
• 04/05/08 - Got it home (photos: lots of aluminum, its got the rocket top).
• 04/25/08 - Purchased rotor plate; beam shopping - check out my tribander analysis (.xls)
• 06/02/08 - Time for some monday morning tower staging to see where the guy anchors will go. Pictures:
  • Slack lines laid out (just to hold the section up)
  • Another view with just the slack lines
  • Sign of things to come shortly; guywire "tracers" now in
  • Looking back up towards the house (note the bust driven ele. on the ta33)
  • The tautline hitch, for you knot people - more on this later
  • Foundation is outlined; let the digging begin
• 06/03/08 - Digging the base all day, alone, until Andrew got home and snapped some pictures. We're blessed with decent soil here, and I managed to pick the few square yards in the lot without foot-thick roots going through it. The hole got bigger, and the angle got tougher to work with. There has to be some kind of award for this. Note: I'm six feet tall, to give you some scale. You'll see what I mean in a second...
  • Angle was starting to get tough
  • Sides needed to be a little more square
  • Here's what the domestic stations will see
  • Just a little bit more
  • Yes, there is a shovel down there
  • The dirt pile was beginning to grow; I was using it to fill a hole where a tree used to be
  • Now the depth feels about right. Bring on the concrete!
• 06/03/08 Part II - I was looking for nuts and bolts for the tower, but the neighbor (Bob, WB1HAB) apparently had some. As it turned out, he had enough for the entire tower (and then some). They date back to 1975 when he put his 60+ foot tower up, but are brand new. His tower is still standing, after hurricanes and three decades of New England WX!

New Operating Desks - Needed more depth behind radios for feeds & power supplies (Top)

• 03/??/08 - Scrounged by KB1OEV from local college
• 03/23/08 - Assembled at the station
• 03/24/08 - All equipment finally moved in
• 03/25/08 - Attached white board to shelf-front to prevent "sticky notes"
• 04/06/08 - Got around to re-wiring the band decoders and other stuff. (photos: ready for the switchbox, mess of connectors, and this hobby is WIRELESS??)

The Computer "Round Up" - Windows 98 boxes still do the trick, will finally network them right (Top)

• 03/20/08 - Logging machine reformatted
• 03/20/08 - Cluster box and propagation computers installed
• 04/01/08 - Ran network cables from upstairs down into shack
• 04/02/08 - Cluster computer won't run the cluster or "hear" the internet...hmmmm
• 04/25/08 - New Logging computers for run, mult, and cluster

New Remote Switch - Will also serve as a stackmatch for 3/3 tribanders on new tower (Top)

• 03/??/08 - KB1OEV commissioned
• 04/01/08 - Design begins
• 04/25/08 - Progress photos from Blake (these are very large): component side, solder side
• 05/12/08 - Completed, thanks to Blake for the hard work. Completed photos: 1, 2, 3

Packet Cluster (Top)

• 04/01/08 - Is there demand for one in Feeding Hills/eastern parts of WMA???
• 04/01/08 - Got ARcluster from AB5K
• 04/01/08 - New 2m antenna, probably to go up tower
• 04/08/08 - Computer has issues, cluster will not run, transferring to a new machine (stay tuned)
• 04/25/08 - New cluster machine, should have it up and running (at least telnet) by this weekend
• 05/10/08 - Done; 100% functioning

Webcam at top of tower - Will be on mast, viewers can see where the beam is pointing. Need extension options (wireless??) and enclosure. (Top)

Soundcard Interface (Top)

MFJ's version
RIGblaster
Any thoughts on one versus the other? Any complaints or suggestions? email me

15m Monobander

A beam so sinister that it may actually work fixed at EU...

	Spacing	Seg1	Seg2	Seg3	Seg4
R	0	30	36	18	59
DE	56	30	36	18	51
D1	56	30	36	18	48
D2	98	30	36	18	37

Tubing diameters: Seg1=.875, Seg2=.750, Seg3=.625, Seg4=.5

Everything here shown in inches

Some design elements from the 2003 ARRL Handbook