Tower Talk

OK then....

At the beginning of the year I purchased a second hand tower.
It's a 40 ft / 12m tower, with an 18" / 45cm face width. This is a nice, heavy duty tower, and included the hinged base in the deal.

This morning my new, secondhand Hy-Gain Hy-Quad 244 was delivered to the house.

After our recent radio trip (www.c82dx.com ) to Mozambique, I got some input from Tad, WF4W, and Kevin, K6TD, on where and how to put the tower up at home.

I have now about 90% of the information needed, and will hopefully have the tower and antenna up in the not too distant future.

One of the tasks ahead is canvassing the direct neighbours, to hear if they will have any objections. I hope not!

On the want / to do list still for the tower project:

• Obtain OK from neighbours
• Source a rotator somewhere that won't break the bank
• Source a mast to mount the antenna on, to be turned by the rotator.
• Dig a hole and plant the tower! 

Here's to hoping it all goes smoothly.

Boring Sunday in the mountains

Today is a cold (-5C), boring Sunday in the Lesotho highlands. The snow from yesterday's blizzard is still nearly a meter thick in some places.
I've spoken to my husband at home (missing him and the animal "kids" like crazy this morning), and Mozart's C-minor mass is playing to keep me company.

After months (maybe years) I've eventually updated the firmware on my Yaesu FT-950. It was kind of a non-event. I really expected that it would involve a few attempts, and possible failure. I guess you mustn't allow other people's experiences to determine your mindset. I've read so many accounts of radios being "bricked" by failed software attempts, that I was really apprehensive, but decided I must stop letting other people's failures hold ME back. I suppose this can be applied in all aspects of life.  Well, the radio is working fine, so it's up to date and ready to work more DX.

I'm here in the mountains till 6 May, when I head home again.


I'll try and post some pictures of the snow in a while.

Have a great Sunday.