ARRL January 1999 VHF Contest
TOWER INSTALLATION PHASE:

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This contest, initially, began as me testing out this
new Location. If you haven't seen it - go back to the main
page and click the HOUSE link. It has some views from my
site.

ANYHOW - this effort blossomed from a simple thing into a
10-band effort. This could have never happened without
a great deal of assistance from Scott Ballou AA2WV, Rus Healy
K2UA, Dave Hallidy K2DH,Wayne King N2WK and Evhen Tupis W2EV.
These folks really put forth a great deal of effort to get this off
the ground, literally. I started in Early December by digging a hole
for the tower base using a pick-axe and hot water to get down a
couple feet. Scott and I then literally stood 28' of Rohn 25 up into the hole,
and tied it to the house. I made a house bracket from steel channel
and tied through the house. Not great - but VERY solid/stable.

The tower installation portion wasn't the hardest part, just the coldest.
We put the tower up in ~10 degree F weather, which wasn't that bad. The
wind almost took it away - thank god for ropes and knots! Once THAT
part was finished, we could put up antennas. The 2m antenna went up solo
with me climbing up with it attached to my belt. Stuck it on, and lifted
the mast. Did the same for all the antennas, then installed the rotor.
ALL this took ~3 weeks. Keep in mind, it was usually windy (30+ MPH)
and REALLY cold. But - the last coax was run the weekend prior to
the event, which gave me a week to assemble a TON of borrowed
gear.

From here, you see the result:

Top to bottom:
FO-12 (2m) @ 40'
CC 11 el (222) @ 38'
RIW-19 (432) @ 36'
5el (HB - 6m) @ 32'
2' Dish (2304-10GHz) @30'
33l (903), 45l (1296) @29'
5l FM (2m) Fixed on Rochester