New Years Antenna Party
January 1, 2005

Photos can be found here.

The story of the January 1, 2005 antenna party actually starts on December 15, 2004 when I found an ad in the SoFlaHams [link] group from Bob (WD4DZH).
Bob (WD4DZH) was moving and he wanted to sell his tower, antenna and rotor. His asking price was so low that I immediately contacted him asking for more information. Once I received all the information I contacted Hank (N3HV) and Fred (K9VV) (our in house antenna connoisseur). After some emailing and phone calls back and forth we decided that this was too good of a deal to pass up.

On Saturday December 18, 2004 Fred (K9VV), Hank (N3HV) and I (W4RIS) drove down to the Weston Area to meet with Bob (WD4DZH) and to disassemble and pickup the 3 year old Moseley Pro 57-B-3 antenna and Tail Twister rotor.

Bob (WD4DZH) had already lowered the tower and when we walked up to the tower we finally realized how big the antenna actually was! The boom is 24Ft and the reflector 25Ft. After some disassembling we put the parts on my 15Ft car and we carefully drove back up to Boca.

On January 1, 2005 we all met at The Griddle at 9am for breakfast. Shirley (N4JKI), Jan (KG4TIG) and Lisa (KI4CCO) joined us for breakfast.
The complete antenna party group consisted of: Fred (K9VV), Erkan, Hank (N3HV), Rudy (KF4OM), Larry (KG4LCF), Tom (KG4IOY), Ed (W1UY), Jeff (K4BH) and Sjaak (W4RIS). (Please contact me if you are missing from the list)
Sal (N4YQU) and John (N8JUC) joined us after breakfast.

Rudy (KF4OM) and I (W4RIS) went to work on the Tail Twister rotor in T6 while everybody else started outside with taking down the Sommer antenna.
We took apart the rotor completely and we cleaned it and reapplied grease. After we had made some great progress in cleaning the rotor Fred (K9VV) informed us that the rotor that was on the tower was good enough and that the rotor we were working on would not go on the tower. The Tail Twister rotor is ready to go when ever we need it.

Once the Sommer antenna was on the ground I noticed it was missing a nut and bold. Hopefully after we put the nut and bold back and some thorough cleaning we might be able to use it again or trade it for a good HF rig. Maybe later this year we can setup a 2nd tower for this antenna.

Once the antenna was put together the enormous size of the antenna became clear. It is about twice the size of the Sommer! As luck would have it with the tower in its lowest position you can still turn the antenna. The reflector has about 1.5" clearance from the roof. However you should not use the antenna when the tower is in its lowest position because the bad SWR!

When we disassembled the antenna at Bob's (WD4DZH) QTH we noticed that he had put silicone rubber on all the nuts and bold and that after 3 years in south Florida they were as good as new. Once the antenna was on the tower and completely checked out we also applied silicone rubber to all the nuts and bolts.

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating."
Under this motto Fred (K9VV) fired up the radio and made some contacts that gave of great reports!

The station at T6 is ready to be used!
Check out the calendar to see when there are contests events going on in witch we plan to participate. You can of course operate the station when ever you want as long as you stay with in you licensing class.
If you don't have a license contact Hank (N3HV) and he can get you information on how to get licensed.
If you don't know how to operate the station then come to one of the meetings or events and we will gladly explain how everything works! Also almost every Wednesday Morning Ed (W1UY) operates the station.

Sjaak (W4RIS)