Radio W4KAZ

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Finished Product Of A Year Long Effort

Here is a before and after of the N1LN/N1YXU antenna farm:

Antenna farm, freshly planted seedling____________Antenna farm nearing completion

The photo on the left was taken in the spring of 2007, the one on the right on April 23 this year. The 40m tower is still incomplete in this photo, and it is the tower on the right of the shot. To finish it off, the top antenna was raised to make room for a Tennadyne T-10 on the mast. A 4 element 10m monobander was also installed by N1LN above the 40m antenna on the tic ring.

This is what the finished 40m tower looks like:

A photo of N1LN and N1YXU\'s 40m tower.

More Than “Almost Done”!

Make that….DONE!

It would appear that N1LN wanted to reach the “DONE” milestone, so he and N1YXU must have gone out and finished the job by installing the 10m monobander themselves.

O’course, no antenna farm is ever “DONE”, but at least its now in maintenance mode. There’s still a lot of station building left ahead of them, but the aluminum is flying.

It was fun to be a part of that effort. It never fails, but you always learn something new.

Almost Done

I spent much of Saturday “hanging around” on N1LN/N1YXU’s 40m tower. After a couple of false starts, we got the top 40m antenna cranked up and seated in the rotor. We then trammed and mounted a Tennadyne log periodic onto the mast about 12 or 15 feet below the top 40m antenna.

That just about wraps up most of the initial construction. Bruce has a 10m monobander that he plans to install on the lower 40m antenna on the tic ring rotor. But with 10 meters as exciting as watching paint dry….well it just doesn’t seem like a hot priority. (except maybe to be able to say “done”. But does the term “done” ever actually apply to a radio station?)

But it sure will be interesting to operate from there when the bands are in better condition.

A Flock of Buzzing Cable Ties

Part of the ARRL DX SSB weekend was spent lending a hand at N1LN/N1YXU. Bruce and Laurie’s aluminum farm has sprouted a nice shiny new 5 element 15m monobander at about 95 feet. Really nice. That gives them three choices on the 15m tower, or beaming more than one direction for contest runs. Way cool.

Continue reading A Flock of Buzzing Cable Ties

One More Up, Five To Go

The past weekend included hoisting a 4-el 20m yagi at the growing N1LN antenna farm. This was the last yagi(I think) for the 20m tower. Bruce still has a lot of work ahead before the towers are filled. Next up is a 5-el 15m yagi to top off the 15m tower. There is also work left to be done on the 40m/10m tower, including pulling the mast, rotor, etc. for the top of the 40m tower.

Its going to be a real hoot to hear this station play at the top of the sunspot cycle. I am sure it will ruin me forever. I’ll spend the rest of my radio daze pining away for lack of such a set up. -sigh-

N1LN Antennas Sprouting

N1LN and his XYL N1YXU have been busy since the last visit. All three towers are complete, and several antennas have already gone up. This past weekend we helped raise a 2 element 40 meter yagi to the ring rotor at 66 feet on the 40 meter tower. This station is going to rock.

Bruce and Laurie have done a great deal of work since the last gathering. There are now coax runs from the house out to the remote panel, and some of the trenching is done for the runs to the towers. There is still a lot of work to be done, but its beginning to come together for them. I’m glad to get a chance to see it up close, as I’m learning a lot about the process.

The next time I go, I’ll try to remember to bring the camera so I can get a few snapshots from the top.

NT4Q Antennas In The Air

We put the beam up on the tower at NT4Q, Jerry’s QTH this weekend. Its been a project that was long overdue for completion, so I’m glad he’s got things set up and ready to go.

The tower is about 57 feet of Rohn 25, topped with an 18 foot mast holding a 40m dipole and a Mosley CL-36 just above the tower.
Continue reading NT4Q Antennas In The Air

N1LN Tower sprouting

I spent the day with a group of folks over at N1LN’s QTH. Bruce now has hisfirst 105 foottower up and guyed. Per Bruce, this tower will hold antennas for 40 and 10 meters.

The finished product N1LN Sets top guy tension

There is still a lot of work to be done to get N1LN finished up, but it will be one sweet station when completed.

NT4Q Tower project

Over Memorial day weekend we were able to move Jerry, NT4Q closer to completion. On Saturday, we were able to pull the mast and get the 40 meter rotatable dipole installed on top. We ran into a problem with the guy bracket mounting blocking the installation of the rotor. At that point we secured the mast and called it a day.
Continue reading NT4Q Tower project