I am actually doing work up on the hill, but unfortunately running the
station is not really possible, as I have removed the delicate gear to
avoid condensation issues and rust problems. My work besides emptying
out the shack of delicate gear was to do some maintenance on the big
diesel generator. Last Spring, I had a low coolant situation which got
solved by adding straight water to the anti freeze mix. I got to
thinking that maybe I should check how well protected the solution was
before winter really sets in. Good thing I did, as it was only good to
about 10 below zero. Yikes. I added more anti freeze and now it is
protected to -28 degrees F. The generator is pretty well made with good
components etc, but some of the finer points seemed to get lost in the
design. It is difficult to change the oil, as there is no room to fit
anything substantial under the oil pan to catch the oil. (Duh!) My
solution was to get a manual dipstick oil pump for removing old oil. I
also need to flush the coolant system, as it looks pretty dirty at this
point. That is a problem as there is no running water on the site. I
would have to lug water from down at the house. Anyway, I was working
on the diesel engine today and lamenting that I cannot get on the air
this evening for the fantastic 222 Activity Night. BTW, the only way I
could get up there to remove gear with the truck, was to use 4WD and a
set of tire chains! The road was all ice!
Last week's 222 night was quite the success in the NE, and there was
good activity in the Pacific NW and some activity as well in
California. I am counting the days until about the end of March, when I
will be able to bring gear back and the weather is warm enough. I hope
the antenna holds together over the bad months of January, February, and
March. In the meantime, I will be updating equipment down in the shop
for next year. I have my 2 x 16 el FO yagis all re furbished and tested.
They show about 1.2:1 at 222 MHz and about 1.06:1 at just above 223 MHz,
so they are both looking good. They will be side mounted on a tower in
the Spring.
So don't forget to get active this evening and dust the cobwebs out of
your 222 MHz gear. This is the time to make a few QSOs and check things
out before the January VHF Contest too!
Good luck to all.
73
Dave K1WHS
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