The next Quartz Hill Activity Day is on Saturday 5 May 2007, starting at 9:00 am.

As usual, the objective is to catch up on project and maintenance work as well as providing an opportunity to look around the station, try out the big antennas and have some eyeball QSOs. Visitors are always very welcome and there is no requirement to participate in the more "physical" activities.

Remember to bring some lunch, appropriate clothing for summer or winter weather (!) plus boots and gloves if you intend participating in the outdoor project activities. Please contact Brian ZL1AZE 021 569981 for the gate code or if you require assistance with transport.

The list of tasks for the day are as follows - priority in []:

Check the smoke alarms and 1st aid kit. [High]

160M Northwest sloping dipole - Replace the terminating stake with a wooden pole. Install underground conduit for the RG6 coax cable between the base of the 42m mast and the RG213 coax termination box. [High]

160M East sloping dipole - This antenna is now supported by a galvanised wire connection to the top of the 42m mast. Install underground conduit for the RG6 coax cable between the base of the 42m mast and the RG213 coax termination box. [High]

80M Northeast sloping dipole - finalise tuning and then make a permanent supporting connection to the 42m mast support (it is currently supported from FD halyard rope). [Medium]

80M/160M T - Retune the 80M antenna wire and replace the open wire system with 1/4 wavelength of RG6, to be run overhead on a supporting rope. [Medium]

Apply top coat of paint to the glazing putty for the new windowpane in the large operating room [Medium].

NA LP Vee - The supporting hardware for one of the antenna wires (at the top of pole 6) is badly rusted and needs to be replaced. [Medium]

Coax feeder tests - Noted that the insulation (moisture) leakage across the coax feeders to the following antennas requires further investigation [Medium]:
- 20M NA yagi: 50 Megohm
- EU SP Vee #1: 20 Megohm
- Rhombic: originally 2 Megohm but this increased to 20 Megohm after moisture in the balun box was dried out during the June Activity Day.
- 160M NW sloping dipole: 2 Megohm (possibly due to moisture across the centre insulator)

Recover the LDF450 coax and remove the mast infrastructure for the VHF/UHF antenna project [Medium]

EU SP vee #2 antenna - Replace the temporary line tap connection between the horizontal and vertical feed line wires. [Low]

10M EU/AS yagi antrenna - Adjust the tuning of the driven element for this antenna, as it is currently resonant below 28.0 MHz. [Low]

Rhombic antenna - Replace the temporary repairs to the feed line connections at the south end of the antenna [Low]

Heliax coax to Pole 8 - The LDF-450 heliax coax to pole #8 appears to have low insulation resistance due to moisture in the dielectric. Need to investigate further. If necessary the cable can be cut back and tested at the gantry. [Low]

Apply bleach to the interior walls of the building - to remove mould. [Low]

Posted by ZL2AOH on May 05, 2007