Raise the antenna!

[zmetzing]

Let’s get our HF antenna back up in the air and operational.

Details here: https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/2417

[jphelps]

Can’t make it but wanted to mention link says “Registration for the event is closed.”

[jast]

I’m betting it’s in the approval limbo for the 48 (or whatever it is) hours from the time of submission…
That seems like a good enhancement to the calendar, to be more accurate about why registration isn’t available…

[tmc4242]

Will be working WhoFestDFW that weekend. Can’t make it.

[jrcarr2]

I should be able to make it.

[BenjaminGroves]

I’m in.

Much Thanks @zmetzing for coordinating and keeping the dream alive!

[zmetzing]

Remember, folks, antenna work tomorrow starting at 10am!

[kbraby]

Wish I could be there, but have family in town and we have overlapping plans.

[BenjaminGroves]

Heading up soon - I expect I will be there about 10:15am - sorry for delay

[zmetzing]

Running a bit late myself. Almost there.

[zmetzing]

Success! Thanks in no small part to the efforts of @BenjaminGroves and @artg_dms, the antenna has been re-erected and the problem with the antenna auto-coupler has been resolved. The antenna and cinder blocks are now entirely on our roof.

The auto-coupler is not going anywhere:

Entire antenna, in all its glory:

[BenjaminGroves]

@artg_dms be solving the problems.

[Cairenn_Day]

My hubby and I came in while you were working there, I wish I
had known you were working on the antennae, He was a ham back
when he was in college

[zmetzing]

@krgrantham has done some great work on the BYOR antenna/power panel! I’ll quote his emails here:

Hi, folks.

Worked on the panel a bit today.

Installed a 20A auto-reset circuit breaker on the right side of the panel
and a six position ATC distribution block on the left side of the panel.

Installed two auto-reset circuit breakers into the block. I bought others
but the blades weren’t deep enough so I’ll try to exchange them and get
others.

Wired the power side of the tuner into the block. Position 6. Also wired a
green LED into the block through a 1K resistor and some shrink tube.

Wired all four of the red power pole positions to individual positions on
the block. Positions 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Wired the red banana plug to the block, position 5.

I need to cut the red power cord, attach ring terminals to both side, and
run it through the auto-reset breaker. That will complete the power side of
everything. Well, that, and showing up with more breakers or fuses.

Next up - wiring the negative side through the meter.

Oh, yeah. That. The shunt was bolted to the front panel - not going to work
like that. So I bought and installed some nylon T washers and spacers to
isolate it from the panel.

Made a little more progress tonight.

Three Autozones and I found enough auto-reset breakers.

Looking at the panel, the power poles are numbered 1 (upper left), 2 (lower
left), 3 (upper right) and 4 (lower right). These correspond to the fuse block
positions.

1 and 2 are 20A and 3 and 4 are 30A.

I put a 10A fuse into position 5 (banana sockets on the front, red and black)
and a 3A fuse on the tuner. Couldn???t find auto-reset CB???s that size.

I wired up the return side of the power supply to the shunt, and wired in the
meter.

I got three guys to put on welders helmets, turnout coats and fire extinguishers
to stand fire guard whilst I powered it up. No flash! No bang! No fire! Woo
Hoo!

The meter powered up, and then displayed all kinds of numbers. Awesome meter!

But???

Geez???

Good grief???

It’s upside down!

I was going to rig up a pentaprism so to invert the image but ran out of time.

So, what remains to be done?

1.  Reverse the meter, which may mean redoing to wiring if it won't reach.
   

2.  Add the four returns from the four powerpole positions to the load side 
   

of the shunt (see diagram on shunt). I ran out of time and had to meet my
daughter at the airport. The banana jacks are hot as is the tuner and meter.
3. When I was scrabbling around trying to find some ring terminals I came
across the big plastic buckets with ham stuff. There is an Alinco 32A power
supply in there. The one on the bench is 16/20 which is not enough to run a
100w HF radio. Would it be politically correct to put the bigger power supply
in? I would need to get a larger CB (the one I put n the side of the rack is
only 20A) but that’s no big deal.

Other than that, the ham(sic) bunch should be operational.

[Bill]

Sorry, guys, this is very off topic, but David @Photomancer , this is what the top of the roof looks like.

[zmetzing]

You can just post a link in the original thread that points back to a specific message or photo.

Raise the antenna!

Success! Thanks in no small part to the efforts of @BenjaminGroves and @artg_dms, the antenna has been re-erected and the problem with the antenna auto-coupler has been resolved. The antenna and cinder blocks are now entirely on our roof. [image] [image] [image] The auto-coupler is not going anywhere: [image] Entire antenna, in all its glory: [image]

[jast]

well that’s gone circular…

[tmc4242]

Is there an extra coax run for the dual band 2m/440 antenna that’s been on the bench ?

That would be a good thing to have up on the roof when time permits.

[zmetzing]

We did not run coax for the 2m/440 antenna. I’d like to try mounting it above the drop ceiling, perhaps clamped to a girder, to minimize coax length (and, in turn, loss).

[tmc4242]

What kind of coax is the run to the roof and how long is it ?

I think the performance will be very poor at all elevations below the top of the building walls, simply because of the amount of rebar that’s usually in tilt wall construction.