Poles in the Air

The other day, I wrote about my difficulties in obtaining utility poles.  Well, as usual,  that problem was easy to solve with money!

Gary, the local utility contractor, bought four poles for me from a mill in Arkansas.  They were delivered early last week by a hauler out of Little Rock.  He had a load of poles going to Oilton and put on my four as well.  The driver used some sort of articulated crane to unload the poles in just a matter of minutes!

I needed to get the poles ready for use by mounting a swivel and pulley at the top of each one and running a dacron line to the ground.  I told Gary I would give him a call when I was ready to stand them up.  At this point I should mention that, although the poles were supposed to be 50 feet long, they didn't look very long laying there.  I got a tape measure out and checked them and they were right on.

By Thursday, I had obtained all the "stuff" I needed to rig the poles and it only took a couple of hours to finish them up.  I called Gary and he told me he would be out the next day (yesterday) to set them.  So, about 10 a.m. yesterday, he showed up with the digger derrick and proceeded to stand them up.  As with any job, having the right tools makes it so much easier!  In less than three hours he had the poles all installed.

It is absolutely amazing how tall those poles became after they were set!  The same ones that I thought were too short are now giants.  Today, I'm going to get the loop antenna up on these new poles and see how it works.  I'll let you know when I find out.

DXing

For those of you who aren't hams (amateur radio operators), the term DX refers to radio communications with people outside your own country.  It is, I would guess, a derivative from the word "distance".  One of the standard awards in our hobby is the DXCC award, which you get when you work 100 or more separate entities.  This award is given by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) which is the hobby's governing body and chief lobbying group.

Entities are designated by the ARRL.  In the United States, we have three entities, the Mainland, Alaska, and Hawaii.  I assume that Alaska and Hawaii are separate because of their distance from the Mainland.  There are a total of 340 entities in the World today.

All of this is background for my discussion of my DX activities.  Since I became a ham, I have worked several countries but DX has not been one of my main focuses.  If I happened to talk to someone in another country, I put their name and call sign in the logbook but didn't get too excited about it.  Recently, however, I became curious about how many countries (or entities) I had worked so I built a spreadsheet.  As of today, I have 27 confirmed entities in my list.

The other thing I should point out is that, even though you may talk to someone in another country, if they don't confirm the conversation, either on line or by sending you a card, you cannot count that country.  I have a bunch of contacts that I have never received cards for.  Another strange quirk to this whole system is that, if you are an American, you are expected to foot the bill for the entire exchange of cards.  Because of high postage rates, the entire exchange of cards for one conversation can run about $3.25.

As you have probably already guessed, however, I have gotten more interested in DX lately.  Some of the more exotic entities I've worked include the following:  The Azores, Belarus, Honduras, Guantanamo Bay, Isle of Man, Peru, Guadalupe Island, and Cuba.  This is in addition to some of the more common countries like Great Britain, Germany, and Canada.  I'll keep you posted as I near my 100 mark.

The Cattle Baron

My siblings and I were raised on a farm where we always had cattle.  Dad had been raised on a ranch and so it was natural for him to have cows and calves.  In fact, this was a labor of love for him.  After I left home, I never got involved with them again while I was working.

About two years ago, though, I decided that buying some calves in the spring and letting them eat grass all summer was preferable to mowing.  I bought four, kept them for the summer, and sold three of them for a considerable loss.  We had the other one processed and I must tell you that the meat from this calf was far better than you can buy in a store.

The deep freeze is almost empty now and the grass is growing so I, along with my friend Dave, went to the sale barn in Bristow today to buy some more calves.  I decided I was only going to get two this time.  However, there was a puny little calf which went through the sale and no one bid on her so I bought her as well.  I have decided to call her "Knothead", which I will explain in a minute.  At any rate, the going price for calves her size (270 pounds) was about $1.80 to $2.00 per pound.  I bought her for $.93 per pound!

We got the three calves home and had no problem unloading them into the little pasture I have.  After Dave left to go home, I was standing there admiring them when Knothead decided to go for a swim in the pond.  She bailed off into the water and swam to the other side which is completely inundated with cattails.  She fought her way up into the cattails to the point where I couldn't even see her.  I was dumbfounded and wasn't sure what to do!

I waited about thirty minutes and still no sign of Knothead.  I decided to go into town to run an errand, which I did, and when I returned, there was still no sign of her.  I finally decided that the only solution was to put on my swimming trunks and get in there and see if I could find her.  The thought of snakes and other critters in there didn't make the task seem very appealing but I was convinced there was no other way.

I started wading into the cattails with a pair of hedge trimmers, cutting a path as I went.  After a few feet, sure enough, there she was, totally trapped in all the growth.  I got around behind her and started to push her toward the bank.  After she made a few leaps, the cattails thinned out and she could see daylight.  She scrambled out onto the pond dam with me right behind her.

Here is the part that is hard to believe but I swear its true.  As I waded out from the pond behind her, she turned and tried to butt me back in to the pond!  I hope she fattens up good so I can extract my revenge!  By the way, she is the black calf, second from left, with her head down.  She didn't pose well but I've had all of her I can stand for today.

The Bucket List

If you saw the movie by this title starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, then you know the meaning of the title.

If you didn't see the movie, the premise is that you have a list of things you wish to accomplish before you "kick the bucket".  Louise and I have each developed a bucket list keeping in mind our income limitations and skill levels.

One of the things high on Louise's list, although not on mine, was a ride in a hot air balloon.  So, this morning, she left for Albuquerque with her good friend, Linda, to go hot air ballooning.  Linda has a brother-in-law and sister-in-law in Albuquerque  and they are going to be hosted by Terry and Sharon.  In case you don't know, Albuquerque is the "mecca" for hot air ballooning.  Every October, the grand meet for these guys is held there and it is not unusual to have over 400 balloons there.  Several of our friends who are RVer's go out there and work as ground crew in exchange for rides in the balloons.

It is kind of amazing that here is a device you can fly in but cannot steer (except for wind currents).  I believe that the pilots are required to have an FAA license, though I'm not sure.  At any rate, Louse and Linda have a reservation for Sunday morning, Mothers' Day, to go on their ride.  I sure hope the weather holds out for them.  After five days of "batching" it, I'm sure I will be very happy to see her.

In Search of a Telephone Pole

I think these might more appropriately be called utility poles but around here we call them telephone poles, regardless of what they have strung on them.

A couple of years ago, I put up a loop antenna comprised of 536' of wire suspended about 20-25 feet off the ground.  See my blog of December 3, 2011, if you are really interested in the details.  At the time, I suspended the loop, or "skywire" antenna, with four poles made of chain link fencing top rail and my tower, making a total of five supports.

The skywire antenna has worked better than I ever could have imagined and I've decided that I want to elevate it some to allow it to function even better.  I've tentatively settled on 45' as a goal.  The top rails are "maxxed out" at 25' so there is no way to use them at increased heights (without a bunch of guy wires).  Another alternative would be four additional towers; this would be totally cost prohibitive!  At any rate, I have settled on utility poles as the most viable option here.

I'm now finding out that you can't just go down to the utility pole store and buy four poles!  For one thing, they are very difficult to haul (you have to have a very long trailer) and install (a digger derrick truck is a must for this task).  My first try was our local electrical co-op; they weren't too interested since this project isn't going to help them sell more electricity.  The next try was a couple of electrical contractors who build transmission lines for the co-ops.  They are used to big jobs and didn't want to mess with a ham radio operator who only wants four poles!

My last chance to get these poles and have them set is a local electrician who does quite a bit of commercial construction.  If he won't do it, I may have to find a new plan!  I'll let you know.