Hamming It Up

On: By: N6DZK

K7DAA and KJ6VTP did a Field Day dry run with a new mobile tower recently aquired by KJ6VTP. This was the first time the mast was extended since the tower was acquired several weeks ago. The tower needed some repairs to limit switches, and need some overall TLC. There is some work to do, but the main functions of the tower work well. It is very exciting to have this new tool available to our group here in South County. For this exercise we were gauging how long it would take to arrive on station, deploy the tower, assemble the hexbeam, raise the tower, and get on the air. This was our first go of it, and we were on the air, with the 20 meter hexbeam at about 65′ (of the available 100′) in about an hour. At 4 PM, we were able to make several contacts with excellent signal reports from an FT-857 that we ran with battery power. Next stop Field Day!

2016-06-11 16.55.18-1 2016-06-11 16.40.23-1 2016-06-11 15.20.40-1

2 thoughts on “Hamming It Up”

    1. There is not. It is a 100 ft tower that appears to be mfg’d by US Towers based on a serial number we found on the frame. They were nice enough to share some details with me, but it appears to have been a custom build. It is a very cool tower. But it has required some maintenance like a new motor and some trailer wiring repaired. But boy is it cool when you are watching your hex beam ascend to about 75′-80′ at the flip of a switch.

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