From W9SRK
12/1/2007 3:09:56 PM (4 comments)
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About a month and a half ago, I decided I needed to get some sort of antenna up before the snow started blowing.
Earlier this week I decided it was now or never, so Saturday would be the day. Lo and behold, on the next day, the first snow and ice storm of the year was forecasted for Saturday. No matter - it isn't supposed to hit until late in the afternoon.
Since I have no trees in the back yard, I devised a plan for an inverted L. Come out the window well, straight up to the peak of the house, and back diagonally to the shed. I anchored a small pulley to the flood light at the peak of the house. I ran some large twine through the pulley and tied it to one end of a ceramic insulator. The wire is fed through the other end so that it can move freely through the insulator. The far end of the wire is secured directly to another ceramic insulator that is then tied off to the shed.
Now, the snow storm started earlier than previously forecasted - it began around noon. It was now or never.
As I assembled everything, the snow started coming down pretty good but I was able to get everything in place within about an hour.
Now to get it all hooked up and get back on the air for the first time in... roughly 20 years (i.e. when I moved out of the house on my own, and thus away from my father's Shack).
Based on past experiences, it'll probably work like gangbusters just because I put it up during a snowstorm. Almost made it before the snow started flying, but hey - it's up!