Well, the big event for many North American hams was last week. I work with 2 clubs and things went quite well in spite of the wild fires, construction and general last minute relocations. More on all of this later.
One thing that comes up quite often during the event here are questions on the masts and the hardware that gets used. I posted a page on my site which may be a circular link if you found the blog from the site.
Originally all the information on masts was going to be on the one page. Since it was getting quite long the AB-155/U mast was placed on its own page. Much of the information on the mast page is or can be common to both. It seems there are many more of the LCSS poles around being used for masts than the MS-44 mast sections that are used with the AB-155/U and I have seen even less of the other masts used with the NVIS and VHF antennas and masts.
One thing not on the site, nor is it found on other sites relating to the masts, is a good base. I have used modified bases. I machine my own. However, just recently, too close to Field Day to order one I found the best base for these on Ebay from Baran's Surplus. I have purchased from him and know that he is reliable and products are as described. No, this is not an ad and I do not have any affiliation with Baran's Surplus other than being one of the customers. I plan on ordering one of these bases and will post more when I get one. The base is well worth the price asked. Used ones for the other masts cost at least as much and if you do not have a machine shop they do not work.
Baran also can supply the tripod adapter. I do not have one. I made my own and they are much heavier (weight-wise) than the aluminum ones sold on Ebay. There was even an article in the June QST magazine on several uses for the masts and tripod adapter.
More will be posted later. Please follow this blog or check my site over the next few weeks.
My ham radio site has not existed for a few years; whenever webs decided to change it to their way rather than the way I created it. They made such a crappy mess of it I took it down never to return.
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