Antenna Party - March 2010

As members and visitor to CARC will be aware, the antenna started freewheeling over the winter, and today, the first Sunday this year with reasonable weather we set about rectifying the problem. I say reasonable weather, it was very cold and there was a fairly strong breeze (according to NOAA, it was -6C and 15knots at Gatwick at 1400 today).

We luffed the system over



which was not easy because with the windmilling antenna meant that we had to select exactly the right moment to lower mast so that the StepIR and then the 2m Yagi were on the right side of the ATV mast. Unfortunately the observant among you will see that the upper ATV Omi was a casualty of the process, but that is a job for another day to fix.

One down it was clear what has happened: the bolts holts attaching the stub mast carrier to the main rotator has somehow worked their way loose and fallen to the ground. Similarly the through bolt that locks the stub mast to the rotator against the torque of the antennas in the wind and the inertia when rotating had worked it way loose in the wind.



The other problem that we rectified was the fact that the StepIR had originally been installed 180deg out of alignment. This was rectified and a through bolt installed. The length of the 2m Yagi makes work on the system quite difficult as you can see from the next picture.



Thanks to Rob M0ZAF for doing the high level work and Adrian, Rob's son, for all of his help with the antenna repairs.

Stewart/G3YSX