A couple of weeks ago I needed to repair my iPod transmitter for the car and the fix was a simple one – Resolder the power supply cable and replace the decoupling capacitor because it had broken. The problem was that I had no ceramic disc 0.1uF capacitors. I ended up using a miniature multi-layer […]
Category: Construction
Planning permission – I had a visit and a letter from the council
Planning permission is a subject I’ve steered clear of on this blog for one main reason. I don’t have any. I used to have a twenty foot pole on the side of my house with a seventeen foot long 2m beam for over fifteen years along with an 18ft vertical colinear for 2m/70cms, all with […]
Mast is up, beam is up – It’s all done in time for CQ WW SSB
The crowds descended on my QTH again today in order to finish what we started back on the 10th September, just six weeks ago. Today we had Chris, M6GSD, Tony, G0MBA, Colin, M1EAK, Yan, M0YNK, Bill, G0OAX and Chris’ son, Dean here. To start with, Chris drilled the holes to mount the chemical anchors for […]
Now this is what you call a pulley!
As has been well publicised in this blog, Yan, M0YNK has been constructing most of the hardware to go with my mast. I popped into his workshop on the way home tonight to find him working on a pulley for me. Originally we’d bought one which wasn’t man enough for the job and Yan had […]
My Alimast is up but there’s no aerial on top (lots of images in this post)
There was no work done on my Alimast from Aerial-Parts of Colchester last weekend because I was at the RSGB Convention so the plan was to get everything finished off this weekend. The design for the bracket had been worked out and I’d done all the indoor work on my new rotator. The weather forecast […]
Days 266 to 275, Alimast sections are all assembled
Lots of QSOs over these ten days, with quite a few data contacts during contests. Here’s a list. At the weekend I finished off the assembly of my Alimast sections. I’d done a lot on Saturday as per my previous update but having ripped so much skin off my knuckles, the first thing I did […]
Days 256 – 265 and more Alimast building
Another bumper update so again it’s a list – It makes sense (to me anyway) to provide a list like this as it saves extra typing! I’m especially pleased by the QSO with TR8CA using PSK125 – I’d seem them work a few stations and suddenly there was a change in the audio, I was […]
Assembling a Cushcraft MA5B and finishing the second Alimast section
Some time ago I bought a second hand but never assembled Cushcraft MA5B and yesterday I collected it with the plan to get the aerial all built and ready to go. It’s a couple of years old so it comes from the time before MFJ acquired Cushcraft so I hope that it will be a good one. Once I’d got […]
Assembling a section of Alimast
In my last update, the final image shows a single section of Alimast standing on the concrete. I bought four sections of Alimast from Aerial-Parts of Colchester, each being 2.5m long for a total of 10m (33ft). These four sections were delivered with one being fully assembled and the rest being parts for me to […]
The next stage of the new mast – Mounting the pivot pins in concrete
My new Alimast from Aerial-Parts of Colchester tilts over using a pivot system and so the ground anchor consists of two pivot pins mounted in the ground. These two pins have been linked together for ease of securing in concrete and to add a little extra resistance against pulling out of the ground. Here you […]
