Monday, April 13, 2009

Cushcraft MA5B back up

Well, it took some time, for the weather to break and for me to get all the parts I needed, have a plan on how to get the antenna back up, prepared all I thought I needed to do then have Steve up here to give me a hand, well I think he did most and I gave him a hand. Anyhow. it all went according to plan till one small part snapped... But between both of us, we overcame that difficulty and even strengthened the mast by inserting parts of the old one into the new one. The mast went up and then the antenna. By then winds had picked up. Well I live near the top of a hill... Finally all got done and off the roof we went.

Back down there, I took out my trusty Brunton SAR compass and checked the antenna alignment. I could not do that accurately from the garage roof as I was too close. Well on the lawn I found that we were off by about 2 degrees on a +/- 2 degrees compass. I believe that this will not be a problem at all. Heck, my rotator program is not that accurate either...

Well, down to my shack where I tried the Cushcraft. Well, it works just as good as before. Even got a new one, Cyprus, almost immediately.

What makes a ham very happy? A good antenna working up there sure does!