Last weekend I ordered a 50 mm / 2 inch diameter aluminum antenna mast from
TLC electrical supplies, at a reasonable price. The tube arrived last Monday which was a very quick delivery, my YL Louise M3TLL knew I would be itching to put it into service so she sent me a message when it arrived at lunch. On the way home I asked my work mate Kyle who is also a neighbor if he was up for lending a hand which was fine by him. I have the Cushcraft 5 band mini beam mounted on a home-brew heavy duty tripod which is held stable with ground rods and large concrete blocks, I previously made a service platform above the tripod which allows the mast, rotator and antenna to be taken up and down reasonably quickly. With the assistance of Kyle who towers over me at a mighty 6 ft 4 inch of height I knew the changing over of a short 2 ft tube to my new shiny 6 ft tube would be a lot easier than my usual one man struggle. Sure enough the extra pair of hands paid off and the Beam was up, down, switched and back up higher than before by a colossal 4 ft. :-) The new mounting pole is just what I was after as the antenna is now looking over the local roof tops. My QTH is situated on the edge of our estate/neighborhood, half way up a cliff side at 450 feet ASL on a elevated knoll surrounded by moorland and trees with a nice path to North and South America. I am now hoping that the extra few feet will improve the path to Japan and the far East.
Band conditions have been slightly better this week but I have yet to fully test out the stations latest updates to both the MA5B height gain and Hustler 6BTV radial install. However I have been active throughout the week trying my luck with one or two nice DX qso's entered in the log. 73 Have a nice weekend!
