The slowly evolving shack ...
It had been, well, 37 years, since my last radio purchase, a simple XTAL Novice transmitter. I decided to try to outfit the new shack as well as possible while spending as little as
possible. It remains, like all shacks, a work in progress ...
|
As above, I have been trying to outfit the
shack via eBay as much as possible, for the sake of conserving both money and domestic good will.
I finally had a chance a couple of months ago to hang my 160 meter OCF Windom using my new EZ-Hang slingshot.
As far as I could tell, I shot the first two weights into orbit, as I never heard them come down and I could not locate them
in spite of their bright yellow paint. The monofilament line just kept breaking, and I was about to get onto
eham and leave a scathing review about how I had had to restring the thing with new
line and a functioning reel, and that I had paid all that money just exactly for the convenience of not having to
take the time to put a slingshot together myself.
I had a brief rational moment, however, that told me to take a look at the instructions, and,
of course, I saw that I had mistaken the anti-reverse switch for the release button. You'd have thought I'd never spent weeks on end
of my boyhood fishing. In any case, after that, the product worked great, and was incredibly accurate. I made every shot right through forks
and over limbs on the first try. It made hanging the wire a real breeze (read: it slimmed the project down to about three hours). In any case, I would
highly recommend the EZ-Hang if you are pressed for time to build your own.
My next problem was that my QTH, as far
as I can tell, is the lightning center of the Northeast. When I'm driving home, I frequently see thunderstorms building directly over my house - it
seems. The house is well protected, but it means I have had to pay special attention to the shack. The pictures here show the beginnings of my
effort to construct a single point grounding system. I broke down and purchased several Polyphaser
items, and have now mounted the box right outside the shack. It has its own 8 foot ground rod, which is in turn bonded to the lightning protection grounds and
the power ground. I am not entirely convinced that the copper ribbon bonding the house lightning protection system to the RF system isn't inviting the lightning
into the shack, but I plan to go on believing that the lightning system is a lower inductance path to ground - let's hope the lightning sees it the same way. Some day,
I will actually test the system - but possibly not before Mother Nature tests it for me.
|
|
