The Tower

I had not much to do on the 4th of July, so I decided to work on another project that had laid dormant for awhile. About 3 years ago, I had picked up one of those heavy-duty 10' TV tripod-towers along with a 10' section of heavy-duty mast from someone that was throwing it out (it was one of our newspaper customers, back when we did that-but I digress....) They had it on their curb with a sign marked 'free'. Well- I couldn't resist that!

Anyway, I took it home, and started to clean it up, but like other things, more important projects came up, and it got put aside. I didn't want to give it up though, and moved it not once, but TWICE. Anyway, with the opening on 10m starting up, and the 10m dipole laying in my yard that was given to me, I put two and two together, and...

I pulled the tower out and discovered that it had taken on a bit of rust sitting out in the yard (surprise!). So, I started working on it. I found a wire wheel that would fit my drills and began going at it. I borrowed a DeWalt grinder from my neighbor across the street and cut off the 6 bolts holding the mast into the tripod, the 3 bolts holding the upper mast support to the tripod, and the 3 bolts holding the 3rd tripod leg to the supports. I took the wirewheel to it, cleaning as much as I could before it got dark.

At that point, I kinda got a an impasse...as a lot of the rest of the work to be done required tools I didn't have. Enter my friend Allen KB9VO, who is a tool designer/metal worker. "Eric, Eric...why do you trouble yourself so...I have a SANDBLASTER." He is coming over Saturday morning to take a look at things. Stay tuned- to be continued...