Tuesday, 18 November 2008

The Next Step

Today was a good day here in Keighley.

Outside the sun was shining, there were no strong breezes, and there I was in bed Gasping for breath.The change in weather was playing havoc with my chest infection.All I could do was gulp my inhaler and hope it would pass.
On or about 12 o'clock I started to feel better, so I got up and did the one thing I had wanted to do for a while .

I grabbedthe yaesu G-5500 and hoyked it outside and clamped
it to the scaffolding pole. A lot of time was taken up with
getting the 2 mtr fibreglass pole Through the elevation rotator .
That was when I grabbed the 10 ele 2 mtr yagi and fastened it to the pole, it was a bit of a struggle but I did it , next up was the 19 ele 70cm yagi,then the hard work started.

I have a surveyors tape which is 50mtrs in length.
This was used to measure,measure,measure
then cut the wesflex 103 to hopefully the right length.
Next up was soldering the N type plug on to one and a SO-239 on the other.
Once this was done I went outside only to find that darkness had arrived .
I grabbed my LED headlight (invaluable) and went outside.
I fixed the coax onto the antennas then taped it down the pole and left a loop for the azimuth rotation , that was when I remembered to plug the elevation control cable in as well, because that has to have a loop too. that was when it got too dark. so I took a few pictures and left it .




The Yaesu G-5500 fixed the pole .
(I can't lift the thing all by myself
with all that metal on it ,Its now too bleeding heavy!)




That's going to be fixed to the side of the bungalow
On these two brackets
(note the coax and control cable from the G-250 )


Well Until I can get some help It's going to stay there.
As soon as It's up I will be posting the pictures here.

Thanks for reading

de M1PAC

Saturday, 15 November 2008

One set of Antennas Up and running

Fortune favours the Brave
(but not me)

It's taken me a while but I eventualy got these antenne up and rotating.
Not curently using them tho at the moment.
The girlfriend has been on 2 week holiday
and I have been spending more time with her, going to whitby etc.

The winds here in Keighley hav'nt been all that good for raising a load of antennas ,add to that the fact that the garden is now slippier than an ice rink ,and you can see why not a lot has been done .
The plan is to loft a 20ft scaffie pole thats going to have a Yaesu G5500 AZ/EL rotator on the top as well as a 10 ele 2mtr and a 19 ele 70cm.
these two will be mainly for tracking the satelites, shuttle and the ISS.
Two have been erected though.
First here is the little yaesu G250 rotator. My good friend Simon 2E0HTS has one of these and I was so impressed by the unit and price I bought one
Here is a piccie with it loaded up.

The Big 3 ele is for 6Mtrs the one in the front is a 10 ele 70cm and the one at the back is a 21 ele for 23cm

The antenna you see here is the Hustler 6BTV also recomended BY 2E0HTS
This is one FANTASTIC antenna BUY ONE NOW


I have an Idea. A certain orange DIY center here in Keighley are doing Plastic cobbles in sheets I might get a couple of these and stick them in the quagire that is the back garden to give me somthing sturdy to stand on ,ans whilst I am at it I might as well get another sheet of of that bamboo for the back end of the fence you see there.

Well thats about it for now.
I promise that I will publish more as it happens and as soon as I can ling vids from youtube to here I will post them as well. 73 for now De M1PAC

Saturday, 8 November 2008

M1PAC's adventures at the barnsley rally
Oh Excuse me {The Great Northern Hamfest}
It was as busy as I remmeber it from last year with a few bargins to be had, one was thanks to M0LAG a friend I talk to who hails from huddersfield , was a little jingtong 2mtr handset and charger for the princley sum of £7.50.(you can never have enough handsets)the other was a Yaesu FT-747 which I have lent to a fellow ham(Craig) who has just passed his intermediate and plans to become a 2E0 , it needs a little TLC I am told by him and I suspect it will get it there.
I had to buy a few bits and pieces like a great circle map now I have a rotator,and a map of all the zones etc,
Here for your delectation are a few piccies

Lee and Co hard at work




The Great Throng

The banner advertising our Local D Star Repeater
(must give it a plug now I am a member of the group with a D Star Icom 2820)



There were some video but I havnt got around to editing all yet.
I hav'nt been feeling to sparkling
thats all for now . Thanks for reading