Tower Moving

Yesterday I helped a friend, W5GGW, move a tower he had acquired. The tower was a three section crankup model about 70' tall. Fully retracted, it was 25' in length which was why Gregg needed me with my long trailer. The biggest problem was that it was in the back yard of a house with the only access through a 3' gate.

Letting it down was kind of a "controlled fall" but the tower survived the crash with no damage and we were able to get it moved to his house. I need to help Gregg bone up on his physics a bit so that he can rig it better next time. Putting it up at Gregg's house will be a snap since he has no fences in close proximity to where the tower is going.

The only other exciting thing that happened yesterday was the Pokes beating the Sooners! Go, Pokes! This was the first time in eight years that this has happened. If we hadn't gone to sleep when we played Iowa State, we would be heading for the BCS Championship game now! Oh, well!

73 All

Success at Last!

Well, I finally got the tower project completed and the tower is standing upright. Now I can move on to other tasks. I can't believe the difference this height makes in my radio signals. In fact, I committed a faux pax as soon as I got the tower up. I ran in and turned the radio to 146.91, the Broken Arrow repeater, and made an almost instant contact.

As it turns out, the guy was in Nashville, TN, which was amazing on 2 meters. I knew I wasn't supposed to be working him off the repeater but I couldn't get loose without coming across like an a**hole. Eventually, I got off though. My apologies to all the guys listening to the 146.91 repeater.

We had a very enjoyable visit with Dorinda, our daughter-in-law, and hated to see her go back to Atlanta today. She and our son will be back for Christmas, however, so we can stand it till then.

I don't have a lot planned for this coming week. I'm gonna work on the fifth wheel trailer a little bit, getting it ready to go to South Texas in January.

Primitive Arms Season Ends

Well, today is the last day of the season and I am "naught for naught". I think Jethro on "The Beverly Hillbillies" used to use that phrase. We did have a good time, however, and I'm looking forward to regular gun season.

My goal this coming week is to get my new tower in the air. I've procrastinated too long and now is the time. I already have a battle plan and will start on it tomorrow. I'll post some pictures as I go.

I opened the barn door today to let the Guinea chicks out if they so chose. They opted not to venture out but I expect that will change in a couple of days. I have 23 of them but I think I will probably lose at least three. One is a runt, although it acts OK, another has a broken or paralyzed leg, and yet another appears to have some sort of illness. Hopefully, they will all make it but the odds are long.

I did work both Spain and the Dominican Republic today on PSK-31. I had good copies on both of them. It's always exciting to work a foreign country.

Hunting Results

Well, we've been black powder hunting for three days now and haven't done any good at all. I did see two does on Saturday morning but they were off in the bush and I didn't take a shot at them. Saturday was the best day, weatherwise, with a temp of about 38F, a light frost, and NO wind. This morning there was so much wind that you could hardly stay in the tree.

We're gonna go again in the morning and then take a break Wednesday.

I've still got to get busy and get that tower up in the air. Maybe I can work on that next week. How's that for procrastination?

A Big Hole

Yesterday I accomplished most of what I set out to do, that is get the tower base ready to pour. Today being Sunday, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to call the concrete company which means that they probably won't deliver until Tuesday or Wednesday. Thats ok because I'm not in a terrible hurry anyway.

Since I don't have anything pressing today at the house, I think I'll go for a motorcycle ride. I'll take the BMW and go south to, perhaps Wapanucka, then over to Sulphur and then back to the Cromwell area. That ought to make it about a six hour loop.

Digging Ditches

Well, today will be exciting. I'm gonna finish digging the ditch for the new antenna tower base. The hole is 4 feet square and 5 feet deep. It will take 3 1/2 yards of concrete to fill it. If I get the hole finished, I'm gonna start working on the rebar "cage" which will go into the hole.

At 63, I should be done with hard physical labor. If this wasn't for a hobby, I wouldn't be doing it! Believe it or not, I am digging the hole by hand. I'm just using the backhoe to clean out the dirt. You can't use one of these in a very small hole.