Entry for October 30, 2006
Well I'm happy to announce that my 10 meter beacon has finally been heard aside from local listeners. It was reported on the HF beacons mailing list being heard in California and South Carolina. Looks like it made it to both ends of the country. Hopefully as propagation improves 10 meters will continue to be open on a daily basis. So far I still have not been able to hear many 10 meter beacons.
I got my antenna work done before winter today, in spite of the 30 MPH winds we were having and the fact that Murphy's law was in effect. Several weeks ago the wind blew our yard swing over and it hit one of the guy wires to my HF vertical, which bent the antenna. I took it down, straightened it as best I could, and then put it back up. When I was getting ready to start working on my VHF antennas, a gust of wind blew the yard swing over again into the same guy wire which again bent the antenna. So after relocating the swing to another part of the yard, I again fixed the vertical.
I repainted my AT-197/GR military surplus discone antenna which I last painted about 10 years ago. I bought some OD green paint to match the original paint. The last time I painted it I used some OD green hobby spray paint which faded over the period of time it was up in the air. The new paint job looks great.
I also repaired my Super J-pole which had a bad solder joint. It's made of copper tubing and at the bottom of the J where it attaches to the antenna mast, the T connector came loose like it has done in the past. This is where the antenna flexes in the wind, so there is a lot of stress on this joint. I resoldered it and repainted it and put it back up.
