Sunday, October 13, 2013

T-12 Days: Out With The Old

Next to actually putting up the new tower, the biggest item on the to-do list is taking down the big TH6DXX and tower from the old contest site up on the hill.  This project had been on my radar ever since my last contest operation there.  It was asking a lot of the rickety old light-duty tower to hold up that heavy TH6 and every time I drove past the site I peeked up somewhat apprehensively to see if the tower was still standing.  It needed to come down and the weather forecast this morning was for sunny with a high of +4C so I knew this was the day.  I didn't have anyone available to assist me but I remembered that four years ago I had put it up by myself with VE8DW on ground support so only a few extra trips up and down the ladder to tie and untie ropes would be required.

The forecast didn't lie and when I arrived on the hill the sun was shining and, more importantly, the wind was calm.  Once the tower starts coming down the guy wires are no longer effective so it was critical to do it at just the right moment.  As it turned out, everything went impossibly smoothly.  For a while I was even working in my shirtsleeves!  By late afternoon I had the TH6 in three pieces laying on the ground, all but the last two tower sections down, and all the cables and guy wires rolled up and ready to haul away.  An hour and two trips later it was all safely at home in the yard.

I left the last two sections of tower standing and the main feedline in place so that I can install the 6m beacon and antenna there next spring.

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