HELLO and WELCOME TO MY WEB SITE

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My Name is Gerry and I'm glad you stopped by.

I have been a ham since September of 1979 (when I was a kid -- HA HA)
and this is my first tower project. I have always been a wire and verticle antenna person.
My first major project decision was where to build and what type of tower will work. My
wife Joanne (N8KJE) was strong on "No guy wires". For looks mainly. That meant
probably steel not aluminum. With that cost became an issue. So to build near the house
is OK and Rohn has a tower heavy enough for 50' and an antenna like Cushcraft's X7.
The building permit needed 80 miles/hour with 1/2" ice specification on the elements.
The Cushcraft has 100 miles/hour at 50' with 1/2" of ice on antenna elements.

I started digging the hole in September, a little bit at a time. I dug it all by hand

(shovel and pick) in a ground of 60-70% clay. I did a little digging at a time to see what
I had in store. It was not too hard, but was not easy . In October I started digging
seriously and decided to have the tower up before cold weather. The 'hole' is
6 foot x 6 foot x 4 foot deep. I got the hole dug. I got the frame built. I contacted
the guy that I wanted to erect the tower and the antennas. We talked and decided
to erect the base portion of the tower before November and let it sit until spring. That
is not what I had thought I would be able to accomplish. The task was a larger job
than I thought. So we talked more and he helped me understand what was required
to pour concrete for the base. I got everything in place and ready for concrete
by the end of November. We poured the second week of December and it went very
well. I rented a power buggy to haul concrete from the street to my back yard.
The buggy was delivered at 9:00 am. I practiced driving it from 9:00 - 12:00 noon.
It was a good thing I practiced. It was difficult to drive and threw me off twice.
It is a rough ride. It took 2 hours to pour the concrete. Overall it took 4 hours.
The base required 6 cubic yards of 3,000 psi concrete with winter guard in
the concrete. It would sit until May.

I assembled components of 2 antennas in my shack over the winter. I had help from our friends.
In March I moved all antenna parts to the deck for more assembly. In April I
moved the 2 antennas onto the roof. I finished the assembly there.

We planned the erection 3-4 times, but due to weather and schedules we
didn't get started until the first of May. It took all day (9:00 - 5:30) to complete.
We had one erecting on the tower (he was in charge). One helper on the roof
moving the antennas. Three helpers on the ground moving tower parts,
moving things, guiding parts, getting things, watching, etc. When everything
was erected, we put connectors on the coax and ground cables.

This Hallicrafters receiver is 52 years old. My Dad and I bought it when I was a kid.

It works like a charm and looks real nice on the shelf of my shack.

We erected a Rohn HDBX steel tower, a stainless steel Cushcraft X7 HF
10-15-20 meter beam, a stainless steel Cushcraft 17B2 2 meter beam. Also, we
hung an Alpha Delta wire antenna with all bands 10-12-15-17-20-30-40-80-160 at 40 feet.
I installed a panel for connection of the coax and rotator cable. There are lightining
arrestors for both the coax and the rotator cable.

I have a YEASU FT1000 Mark V, a DRAKE L4B amplifier, and an ICOM 706.