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NY4I

My 9 Band DXCC is Finally Finished

By Tom on June 22, 2020

With a 12 meter confirmation from SM3LIV in Sweden, my 9B DXCC is finally done. That is at least 100 countries confirmed on 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters.

That was a really long time in the making to get the final QSL on 12 meters.

Now award chasing gets even harder but a simpler ones are possible soon I hope.

Next award to finish is 5B WAS for which I need 3 more QSLs on 10 meters (North Dakota, Louisiana, and Rhode Island). I hope Field Day will get those this weekend. The WARC bands and 160 for WAS will be a bit farther along.

Unless a DXPedition comes on, I am planning to focus on grid hunting on 6 meters, WAS on 6m and the biggie…DXCC on 6m.

There is always another award to chase 🙂

If you want any help with your own chase, let me know and I can provide a few tips on QSL, LOTW or other things.

73 – Tom NY4I

Operating from Home

By Tom on June 20, 2020

Thanks to Clayton KJ4RUS going up the tower along with ground crew Bob N2ESP, Pat AA0O and Ed NZ1Q, I have a wire antennas on the tower. Clayton climbed the tower to put a rope in the tower standoff’s pulley and the ground crew connected things so the antennas could be raised. The ends were tied off and it all seems to work well.

The picture below is of a contact I made on FT8 showing the coverage of the antennas on 20 meters. This looks like a great pattern for Field Day. Everywhere with a time flag is a station that heard my signal. The station in Brazil heard me at -10 db and the one in Washington State at -16 db.

My thanks to all that helped!

The Tower Shopping List

The Tower Shopping List

By Tom on April 12, 2019

My goal with this tower is to built an exception satellite station so I can try for WAS and DXCC on Satellite. While WAS is doable, the DXCC part will need lots of low angle AO-7 passes and FO-29 passes. With that in mind, I decided to install some very high gain antennas. I like the quality of construction of other antennas I have from M2 so I decided for their biggest satellite antennas. Of course, I also need an rotator to adjust both the Azimuth and elevation. I opted for separate rotators in case I decide I want to put a small HF beam at the bottom of the mast.

Here is the bill of materials (BOM):

  • AlfaSpid RAK Rotator inside tower
  • AlfaSpid RAEL Elevation Rotator
  • KF7P AlfaSpid Flat-plate adapter
  • DXE-AS455G Accessory Shelf
  • DXE-TB-300 Thrust Bearing
  • DXE-ST200CM-22 Chrome-Moly 22’ mast
  • Rohn ROH-BPL55G tower bearing plate
  • KF7P Antennas Standoff Arm
  • KF7P Standoff Stabilizer Arm
  • M2 Crossboom HD FG 11’
  • M2 436CP42UG 430 Mhz Yagi (18’)
  • M2 2MCP22 2m Yagi (19’)

Tower base is firmly in the ground

By Tom on April 12, 2019

The concrete is in the ground secured by a good amount of concrete. The contractor that rebuilt the house is doing the base and house brackets for this project. We had some false starts on the hole. Specifically, the first one they dug was too far from the house relative to the house bracket. The second hole was too far from the house in the other direction (the house bracket would have hung over). I really do not understand why it is so hard to look at a set of plans.

4 sections of Rohn 55G ready to go up
The tube for the tower base (only using part of that but looks like we have enough for a few more towers)
Hole number 1. The hole ended up being moved two times because the crew kept missing the mark to make sure it fit in the right place.

Tower project full steam ahead!

By Tom on March 25, 2019

I thought I was going to wait a few months after the house was finished before I proceeded with the tower install, but plans changed. Since we obtained the tower permit as part of the house project, the permanent Certificate of Occupancy (CO) is dependent upon closing all projects on the main permit. Hence, the tower has to be installed sooner than planned.

With this in mind, I ordered 4 sections of Rohn 55G which was delivered recently.

The general contractor has the specs to have the rebar cage built. Next steps include digging the hole, then Dan K1TO will come up and check the base looks OK with the tower section in it, then the inspector will come out, followed by 1 1/2 yards of concrete.

DXCC Update January 2019

By Tom on January 9, 2019

The latest batch of cards I had checked at the Tampa Bay Hamfest were processed. I now need just 5 more confirmed on 12 meters for 9 band DXCC as I currently have 8 bands (Basic 5B DXCC on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m) plus 160 DXCC, 30m DXCC and 17m DXCC. After that my focus switches to VHF for DXCC on 6m but that will be tried again in Sporadic-E season in June when I have the tower all ready.

Tower Permit in-hand

By Tom on September 25, 2018

After a contentious Special Exemption meeting where 5 of my neighbors made their case why this tower permit should not be granted, I am in possession of the tower permit. We submitted this permit application near the end of May 2018 and due to the hoops Madeira Beach required me to jump, we were granted the permit mid September. 

I applied for the tower permit at the same time we are building the house as the tower is house bracket’ed in two places. The top bracket is built into the roof structure.

The picture below shows the bracket support detail built into the roof.

This is then the overall tower as installed on the house.

Special Exemption Hearing Date Set

By Tom on August 20, 2018

The final step in the saga of the tower permit is for the Special Magistrate to review the application for special exemption. This seems to be just to cross the T’s for the way the City of Madeira Beach has setup for amateur radio tower’s to be reviewed. That meeting is Monday August 27th.

http://madeirabeachfl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Special-Magistrate-Special-Exception-Complete-Packet.pdf