July 2020 – holdmybeer.io

Amateur Radio

Antenna Part 5: Recovery

Time to recover from the galling incident. I bought new stainless hardware from ACE Hardware and replaced the fully threaded bolts with partially threaded. Perfect for 2″ OD tube. I don’t want to take the chance that these threaded bolts that come with the kit seize up again later. Dimensions Read more…

By Christian, 8 months1 month ago

Amateur Radio

Antenna Part 4: A galling shame

The picture above shows what it looks like when I screw up. It was time for me to relearn an old lesson about stainless, even though it was somewhat unexpected. It is different than what I had ever seen before. I went to put the new shiny black parts on Read more…

By Christian, 8 months1 month ago

Amateur Radio

Antenna Part 3: Omnibus tiltibus

The foundation finished, and now it is time to get ready for the mast. DX Engineering’s OMNI-TILT will allow me to bring the mast down and walk it back up again. Because of SWMBO blessing requirements, I will paint the stainless brackets of the tilt assembly black to make it Read more…

By Christian, 8 months1 month ago

Amateur Radio

Antenna Part 2: Of bungees and concrete

It was time to pour the footing for the base of the mast and embed the Chromoly tube in the bottomless hole. Ingredients: 1x tube of painted, galvanized Chromoly (5′ 4″ x 2″ OD x 1/4″ wall) 5x 80 lbs of fiber concrete mix 1x 60 lbs of gravel 4x Read more…

By Christian, 8 months1 month ago

Amateur Radio

Antenna Part 1: So, you want a directional antenna?

When we lived in Atlanta, I had a half acre-sized backyard with big, mature trees that were great for hanging a half-wave 80m loop. We have been in the pacific northwest for a while now. Unfortunately, while we do have lots of trees on our lot, they are not in Read more…

By Christian, 8 months1 month ago