Saturday, October 23, 2010

Antenna Maintenance

Today was a beautiful Fall day in central New Jersey!  It was sunny and not too warm; but at the same time, not too cool.  The high for the day was about 64F (17C).

After doing the grocery shopping and some "running around" errands, I got down to the serious work for the day - yard work.  For one reason or another, I had neglected all Summer long, the task of cutting back the overgrowth of foliage from my neighbor's yard.  There is a chain link fence between us; but that is largely invisible due to the large amount of decorative shrubs and bushes and plants that they have.  Every Summer I have to cut it back; or else I get whapped in the face by vines and branches when I mow my back lawn.

I got that all done today.  As I had estimated, it was a three hour job, and I was able to fill eight large refuse bags with trimmings and clippings.  The best part was that I was able to prune back my other neighbor's tree that had overgrown into my back yard which had caused my Butternut to become less than straight up and down vertical.  Two large leafy branches were cut back in quick order and my HF9V is truly a vertical once again.

Tomorrow, if nothing else comes up to deter me, the plan is to go to the local hardware store to purchase all the materials needed to construct my 160 Meter vertical.  I am hoping that next weekend will see the fruition of that dream.  I am keeping my fingers crossed already for good weather!  I am not one of those Hams who feel that the best time to put up an antenna is during a hurricane or blizzard!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least.

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