Antenna Park Status

Another year is almost over. For us in the Nordic countries, that means snow and cold weather is due very soon. And, for us in the radio community, it also means last chance to work on our antennas outside before it becomes too unpleasant and slippery. A few weeks ago we planned a maintenance session, primarily focusing on our VHF-array. Before the sun had set we had worked on the VHF-array as well as all the HF antennas in our park, so we thought we could give a little update on everything while we were at it.

Our VHF-array has been out of commission for a while now for. A few years ago we disassembled the array over a weekend to fix issues regarding the rotor/motor. After everything was set and done, we discovered more issues that were noted down but not fixed. Earlier this year, it was observed that the array had come loose from the rotor itself and was swaying in the wind, making loud metal clanks every time it crashed into the pole which reminded us it needed urgent attention. Rather than let it fall into a state of disrepair, it was decided to dismantle the whole thing for now and store it away until proper maintenance can be carried out after the snow has melted.

The issues regarding the array are a few. To get to the main issue about the whole array being loose, we’d have to work our way through disassembling the whole array before having a look. The structure consist of 4 yagi antennas, connected with 2 coaxial cables each, connected and mounted on glass fiber poles.

The glass fiber poles themselves seems to have been worn out quite a bit themselves from the sunlight, and from taking a heavy beating from our mounting brackets. As they are jagged on the clamping end, they slowly but surely dig their way into the poles, like a very patient saw. Our brackets themselves also seem to have been worn down from being tightened to hard, as several seem to have been bent out of shape and needs to be replaced. One of them is already replaced to what seems to be sheet-metal from a temporary road construction sign!

When we got everything taken apart we could finally have a look at the metal pole which was tightened passing through the elevation axis of the rotor. We discovered that the pole itself was just a smoothed surface with with bolts clamped down it which over the years had gotten less grip on the metal until it just slid around in the casing. For this we’d probably have to replace the metal pole itself and probably need to either punch in larger indents or drill a proper hole so the bolts are fastened more securely.

After the disassembled array was neatly placed on old milk crates, it was also a good opportunity to do some proper cable management while we were at it. The roofing felt was replaced a few years ago which gave us new paths to pull the cables inside. Since then, a lot of cables has also been laying around in piles being too long for what was needed, so for now it was coiled and placed in shelter of the rain. The Yagi-antennas were also properly shielded to protect the connectors from corroding. For our hard work we each thought it was well deserved with a pizza break so we headed inside for some Italian cuisine.

With pizza boxes empty, we still had a few hours left of daylight, so thought we’d make the most of it and get started on the HF-mast as well. This mast has a few problems of it’s own in the backlog of things needing to be fixed, including the HF-array itself. The 15m/17m antenna has some arcing, which usually cause us having to mount a portable antenna on the roof if needed. There are some more issues, but for now we only addressed the bundle of coaxial cables which had come loose from the mast, causing more tension than needed when cranking it up to full height. Emma and Ola, our new recruits suited up in full climbing gear and got everything sorted out before the sun decided to call off the rest of the day.

As we hadn’t gotten enough problems noted already, it was also noted that our two dipole antennas hanging from the roof over the park had gotten some strain on them as well. Earlier this year from January 31st to February 1st, hurricane “Ingunn” caused some commotion along the coast, and possible rustled some branches in adjacent trees, causing a strain and tearing open the insulation on the coaxial cables. In the end we got an inspection on all of our HF-bands, but unfortunately the day ended with 160m, 80m, 17m and 15m on our primary antennas being out of commission the rest of the year!

We’d like to thank everyone who met today, especially the recruits Emma and Ola. Other oldies who helped out were LB0DJ, LB1HH, LB4FI, LB5PI, LB6GH and LB9JJ. Also, if you’re wondering about an update for the antennas and situation on our beacons on Vassfjellet, be prepared for a an update here in a few weeks!

Featured image details:
Caption: Today’s crew: Ola, LB4FI, LB0DJ, LB9JJ and Emma
Photo: LB5PI