VK4BR
161 Baaring Drive
Karana Downs, Brisbane
Queensland 4306
AUSTRALIA
EMAIL [email protected]
Brisbane 27S, 153E. UTC+10 Karana Downs is the furthermost western suburb of the City of Brisbane. Here
the setting is one of Semi-Rural, and there is a feeling of living in the country
although we are only 30 kilometers or half an hour to the centre of Brisbane. My Family and I live on about 1.75 acres and in 1987 I finally got my
mast and aerial installed. The mast itself is triangular 23 inches on each side
and 37 meters high. There are 2 sets of guys, the lower to 48 feet and highest
to 93 feet and 30 feet of un-guyed tower section. The mast is very heavy
duty (ex Mil) and has a ladder and supporting safety systems for climbing. About 1-2 feet above the top of the mast is the 3 element monoband 20 meter
beam, on a 20 foot boom, gamma matched. Approx. 10 feet above the 20 meter
antenna (at approx 135 feet/40 meters) is a 2 element 40 meter beam.
The feed lines to the antenna
are each approx 100 meters long . The house is about 100 feet/30 meters to the
right of the base of the tower and approx 6 meters higher than the base of the
mast.
<---This picture taken on the left hand side of the house shows, the antenna pointed long path to USA, Short path Europe would have
the antennas firing over the house.
STATION HF Yaesu
- FT1000 MP mk5 (in service May 2001) Kenwood - TS930s
Transceiver (went into service Oct '82)
- TL922 Linear (went
into service Oct '82) Icom
- IC720A (standby use only) VHF Yaesu - FT1500 Antennas 2 meters ringo 80 Meters inverted vee
dipole 35 meters 40 Meters 2 element yagi - 40
Meters (135 feet) 20 Meters 3 element yagi - 37
merts (125 feet) I was first licenced in 1967 at the age of 17 with
the call VK3AYT. My first transmitter was the Yaesu Musen Fl200b and for a
short time I used an HA225 Lafayette receiver. I was not unusual for the
receiver to have been 40-60 kc's off frequency when i went back to receive.
Shortly after, we updated to the FR100B also by Yaesu. My beam was a 2 element
cubical quad on a 12 foot wooden boom. Although I have used yagi beam antennas
over the years, I guess I still consider the Quad the best. In 1974 I obtained vk3vy and on moving to Queensland
in 1987 obtained VK4BR. In the mid 70's I used a TS520 and Fl2000 linears. I originally bought the Kenwood
TS930S Transceiver in 1982, when I lived in Melbourne and operated under the call
VK3VY, a call I still retain. During the past 4 years the
TS930S has began to show its age and the reliability has fallen with an
increasing failure rate and repair bill. During April 2001, it failed again and
although fixed, will be de-commissioned as the main station as I have decided to
upgrade to the Ft1000 MP MK5.
Finally a picture of the tower
on the ground before it was raised. After the tower was lowered from it previous
home, it was taken apart in 20 foot sections for transport to my location then
reassembled as a continuous 120 foot tower layed out on the ground. It took 2
cranes to lift it into position. The tower was lifted 10-12 feet of the ground
then the antennas placed on it.