WB4GBI

 

 

ALMOST THERE!

 

Many of you have asked, “When is 146.73 going back on the air on English Mountain?”

 

Well, after many months of behind-the-scenes work, I am now proud to announce something publicly. Yesterday, I met the site owner and tower climber of the facility from which I am renting tower space.  With the help of Dave, KE4YBZ (who also maintains my web site- Thank You Dave!),  the antenna for 146.73 has been installed on the tower and the cable has been routed into the building. I have my assigned space in the building.  It was an all-day trip, as it takes over 90 minutes to get to the site.  The antenna installation took place after about three hours of preparation and tower work. The English Mountain site is only five miles from paved road, but it is a five-mile, closed-access mountain road. It takes about 20 to 25 minutes just to get up to the site. But the “hard part” is done!  It was 90+ degrees at the site with no shade. I have a nice sunburn and some yellow jacket stings to show for the effort. I actually got the yellow jacket stings while loading the antenna up at home.  Who said ham radio was painless?  J

 

Now, you might ask…”Why didn’t you take the repeater with you and get it on the air?”

 The reason is that I had a concern with the repeater duplexer that necessitated leaving it here in town and checking the alignment. I hope to have that resolved by the end of the week. Then, I will need to secure a time that I can get access the site to deliver the repeater and duplexer. Please bear in mind that as a *renter* on this site, I have limited access and can only go when I have secured a key to the road and building. However, due to the limited availability of sites on top of English, I am very pleased to have the site that I do.

 

After the antenna was installed, I hooked up my Icom mobile and made a few tests on simplex. Some of you might have heard me or worked me from there. The Antenna checked out fine.

 

 

Hang on…we’re almost there!!