[WARC] Witoka Tower Beam Installation

[Elisamuel Resto]

Thank you all for your work and donations!


73,
-Sam, KF0ACN

> On Nov 12, 2023, at 12:34, Mike Foerster via WARC <warc at w0ne.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>  
> With a great deal of thanks to Dan, WK0W, Justin, KF0BSI, Austin KFOLMB and Paul, AD9UU as well as my son Tony, KE0PXI, we managed to get the club’s tri-band beam, a Mosley Classic 33, setup at the Witoka site.  This beam covers the 20, 15 and 10 Meter bands.  The rotor is a Yaesu G-800SA with some cable that was donated by Skip, K7YOO.  I was able to splice the pieces and get it connected up and working at my home QTH.
>  
> We mounted the beam on a 20 foot pole with a thrust bearing at the top, and 4 ropes to keep the mast vertical.  The beam height is about 25’.  There is also a thrust bearing, thanks to Mike, W0VTT at the top of the stand.
>  
> We decided that mounting it in front of the gate would get to close to the AC Power line pole coming into the shack, so we moved it to just north of the perimeter fence.  With the crew of 6, we could raise and lower the assembled antenna quite easily and quickly.  There was a bit of discussion about setting the tower exactly vertical, but with the help of a shovel in Justin’s truck we were able to quickly straighten it out.  The mast was guyed with some ropes using a sliding knot, allowing for easy length adjustment.  Once set, the ropes were locked in place with tie wraps to keep them from sliding.   Using the rotor controller (manually), the beam turns as it should.  I checked the rotation and cables, and everything appears OK. 
>  
> <FF7E32BA7A9B47C5A1D4DC81FA06EFF9.jpg>
> The beam is set in the field just north of the perimeter fence.
>  
> The SWRs were quite satisfactory.
>     These images were taken from the IC-7300 SWR function.
> <328B69D8101741FF937BFE3D734574B0.jpg>
>  
> <928EAA0A1C7A40259DA499029BEB8A3B.jpg>
>  
> <83AF8078C17E4C46BC0EBDBED51374D9.jpg>
>  
> The beam is pointed to the EAST for now (Eastern US & Europe).  We don’t currently have the capability to turn the beam remotely, but hopefully, if it gets used a lot, we may be able to purchase a serial port add-on to allow user access to the rotor remotely.
>  
> A few years ago, I built an automatic antenna switch, similar to the one that was described in the article that I wrote in the Nov/Dec issue of NCJ magazine.    With this, changing bands will automatically change the antennas.  I modified the code in the Arduino so that the beam will automatically be connected if you use the 20, 15 or 10 meter bands.  Due to the operation of the IC-7300, the 17m and 12m bands will operate off the beam.  This antenna match will be through the LDG Antenna tuner we have connected up.
>  
> We will need to remove the beam from the field sometime next summer (probably before the field is mowed), but hopefully, it can remain for about 6 months or more.
>  
> Have Fun!
>  
> 73,
> Mike, W0IH
>  
> _______________________________________________
> WARC mailing list
> WARC at w0ne.org
> http://mail.w0ne.org/mailman/listinfo/warc_w0ne.org
> Message delivered to sam at samresto.dev
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.w0ne.org/pipermail/warc_w0ne.org/attachments/20231112/4693bd48/attachment-0001.htm>