Tag: Aerial-Parts of Colchester

A video of raising the mast after replacing the pulley

Yesterday Yan, M0YNK and Tony, G0MBA came to my QTH for a short while.  I’d previously mentioned that the two shackles we’d used as a pulley really weren’t suitable and so it was time to add a proper pulley.  We lowered the mast, fitted the new pulley and then raised the mast back up. This […]

Mast and aerial are down!

After the recent heavy winds in Scotland it’s now time for the south of the country to get them and we’re forecast winds of up to 65 mph at some point over the next few days which equates to Storm Force 10. My Alimast from Aerial-Parts of Colchester hasn’t been lowered since it went up. […]

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 […]

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 […]

Aerial work and digging a hole for my new Alimast

It’s taken a few weeks of planning but today a small working party consisting of myself, Colin (M1EAK), Yan (M0YNK), Chris (M6GSD) and Kevin (M0GWE) descended on my house to take down the mast with my VHF beam and move the 10m 5/8 wave to the standoffs the VHF aerial was on.  That was completed […]