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MBARA - N6IJ News

Other Chores Accomplished on 23Nov24 and 01Dec24

23-Nov-24 -- Day of the Roof Repair
Lubricated the lock barrel on the sign display case out at the fence, and freed the lock mechanism. Jim Tripp had previously located the keys that appeared to fit the lock, but found that the barrel wouldn't turn. With keys and a working lock mechanism, the broken letters were cleared out, and the upper blocks carrying the essential information were restored with the letter sets available in the box now located in the second drawer of the file cabinet adjacent the entry door. The display backing is failing, as is the display's roof, but for now the sign is fully readable. Three Master #175 long shank combination locks were located and lubricated. Two of the three answer to 5959, the third does not (and a subsequent test with a reset tool suggests it has failed internally as it fails to reset to any combination.) I cut one link of the chain at the guest entry gate and installed one of the #175s w/combo: 5959. The gate latch was found to be nonfunctional, and had likely been jimmied, as one of its attachment slots had been broken out -- I've removed it, so the chain and locks alone hold the gate closed. The #175 also has N6IJ labels affixed for easier identification. Lubricated the Master #175 out at the Tri-pole tower yard. Lock shackle was badly rusted and the wheel set badly corroded. Flooded all joining surfaces with TriFlo with plan to return and try again.

01Dec24
Replaced the Port-Potty key fob with a kinder, gentler lanyard, as announced this morning. Returned to the Tri-pole tower gate. Lock refused to open at 5959 (could have been different I suppose), even with a nudge from a punch and mechanic's hammer. Proceeded to clamp the lock in place and cut the shackle. Luke KO6BYG was on-site experimenting with his drone (some potential current site mapping may be coming our way !). While the rains had reduced the risk for smoldering sparks, I didn't want to be cavalier about use of the cutting wheel out there with all that brush. With the watering can loaded, and Luke on local fire watch, we successfully extracted the old frozen lock. The immediate area was doused with water. Hearing no fire trucks since my departure from the site, I think I'm in the clear... The Tri-tower gate received the second #175, combo 5959. With this, I believe MBARA can once again claim that it does have control over all its controlled spaces. Note: I've the reset tool for the #175 locks, and I've learned the procedure for resetting the lock at the vehicle gate (current combo: 4848.) If the board thinks that any of the combinations should be changed for uniformity, or say, in the case of the Tri-tower yard, a different code be set, sing out. 73 de Liam / WA6RAH

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Saturday, 07SEPT24 @ 1000 PDST

At about 1000 hrs, George, W3AB, and Liam, WA6RAH, met at the N6IJ site, and were joined by Luke, KO6BYG, with drone in hand, to look over a few things that came up during the MBARA Finances Review meeting held Sep. 14 via Zoom.

Observed by all, but most succinctly expressed by George, is the general disorder of the antenna farm, and the radio shack. Stuff all over, unknown operational equipment dropped off in the clubhouse, personal equipment with hands-off signs, antennas for who knows what. We need to codify some rules to operate the site as a club.

George, W3AB's recommendations (with our full support):

o Inventory the Shack. This can be done over the next few months. Then the list is put out to the GM for them to chime in on. The non-necessary equipment can be given away to members, sold on eBay or recycled. I believe personal equipment can be brought into the station and used by the owner. When they are finished for the day, they take it with them, or let club members use it. IJ is being treated like a personal shack by some members. It's not, it's a shared space.

o The shared equipment should have an easy to read operating instructions in a binder by the equipment. Maybe on-air training. If a member breaks something, they need to be adult about the problem and report it so it can be repaired.

o The antennas need to be defined and labeled. Unused or broken ones repaired or removed. All the aluminum projects on the ground are over 5 years old. Junk them. The aluminum can be recycled for money for the club.

[Steve Beaman, W0PZ, drove in as we were wrapping up, and came out to see what we were up to. In the course of the conversation we learned that the discone supports, that form the vertices of regular octagon, support a loop installed at about 35 ft. agl (IIRC), and the 1200ft loop that generally follows the perimeter of the site, are both in use. I believe Steve uses the octogon loop directly, and I think the 1200ft loop is used for the remote ... but I'm not sure -- another vote for: The Inventory! ]

Luke put his drone up to investigate a panel structure atop a pole slightly NW of the shack, for which we wondered what was on the topside, and were able to conclude that it was a mounting panel, now in disuse.

The drone was sent to examine what appeared to be a fallen element near the top of one of the discone support poles -- the element had indeed become detached from the support pole.

He also captured additional views of the tri-band beam that is in need of repair. [aside, before Luke sent up his drone, a good omen was gifted us: a hawk had perched on the antenna to survey its kingdom. It had taken flight before Luke went to work on that structure.]

Luke, KO6BYG, has amassed a substantial collection of useful and interesting drone aerial photos of the N6IJ site. The collection can be found at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/J5UXiUntg5FB3aPAA

Additional Observations and Information:

Before we entered the fenced area, we'd scouted the area for utility markers, appurtences, and vaults, that might provide some clue on the route for the non-functioning sewer hookup to the shack. George pointed out a marker pipe he believed to be associated with the sewer line route. We may have also identified a sewer main, that may be involved, found in a vault out near the border with the stables. No actionable conclusion was reached outside the need for more research.

Luke had a conversation with Steve Beaman, W0PX, before departing the site, and learned that the old sewer line had been leaking through the horse pasture before it was removed.

We also noted the damage to the entry gate to the adjacent facility yard, and made a round over the grounds of the adjacent facility, and closed off a crawl space access we'd found uncovered. Luke mentioned that he has observed signs of homeless activity at that facility.

After completing the outer precinct ramble, we exercised the locks at the visitor entrance, and after experiencing no joy, managed ingress through the drive-in gate with passcode 4848. It had been awhile since George's last visit, and the number of additional antennas that have sprouted since then, prompted recognition, easily shared by us all, that an inventory of the radiators, feedlines, and their purpose/benefit, is called for, in order that we may, as a club, choose next steps for the configuration and management of the N6IJ antenna farm.

We entered the shack, and again, struck by the number of new bits that have been anonymously donated (dropped off) at the club, laying here and there, strongly suggest that an inventory, similar to that mentioned above, so that we may, as a club, configure and manage the limited operating and repair space of the shack. :wh *********************************************************************************

Saturday, 07SEPT24 @ 1000 PDST

For your consideration and future reference: Below are my notes from

today's meeting.

Note that there were three attendees that need to be identified (I

counted 11 of us).

73,

Linda, K6GRL

MBARA Membership Meeting

09/07/2024

The MBARA membership met at the N6IJ station at 10:00 AM.

Nominations and elections were held. K6GRL motioned, and all motions

were seconded by KN6OBW, except for the seconded motion for president;

the motion for president was done by WA6RAH; all motions were accepted

in favor by the membership including two present board members. A quorum

was reached.

Attendees: Dusan (KN6OBW), Liam (WA6RAH), Dave (KO6AVA), Linda, K6GRL),

Jeff (KG6UYZ), Jim (WA6DIJ), Mike (KG6UBG), Marc (WB6DCE),

1)___________, 2)______________, 3)___________

The newly elected club offers are as follows:

President Dusan KN6OBW

Vice President Liam WA6RAH

Treasurer Jeff KG6UYZ, w/

membership by George W3AB

Secretary Mike KG6UBG

Board Members:

Member at Large Jim W6DIJ

Member at Large Jeff KG6UYZ

NCCC Representative Don AE6RF

NPSARC Representative Linda K6GRL

SCCARC Representative Cap KE6AFE

The membership assessed the club station site for future considerations.

Meating was adjourned at approx. 11:00 AM.

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Saturday, September 3rd, 2004

Pro-67C Yagi Rebuild and install! (Phase 1)

We had a great day cleaning, building and testing the Pro-67C yagi at N6IJ. (Click the picture above to see all the pictures.) The crew consisted of:

Howard, K6IA

Eric WA6HHQ

Chris, KG6DOZ

Rick, K6VVA

Rene, WR6MTR

Kim, KD6TLB

Jim, N1IPP

Barry, K3KOA

Chris, K6PIC

John K6JCI

(If we missed anyone, email Eric and we'll correct this list!)

Great job Guys!

This antenna has three elements on 40M on a 24 ft boom, plus:

1 el on 30M

3 el on 20M

3 el on 17M

3 el on 15M

3 el on 12M

3 el on 10M

We'll meet at N6IJ again on Sunday, Sept. 12th (10 AM), to route cables and possibly relocate the 3 el tri-bander to pole G. (It is currently to close to the 4 el 20M yagi and is severely interacting with it.)

Final Installation of the 67C on Pole C will be on Sunday Sept . 19th. (10 AM). We look forward to your help! If you can make it, please post to the mbara email reflector.

We will also be installing the Sat antennas on top of pole L soon.

Saturday August 9th, 2003

Lots has happened since our last update. Operating rooms #2 and #3 have been upgraded with additional equipment providing working KW HF stations in each room with logging computers. (Thanks to KG6KCO for the computer help.) Room #1 is now clean and empty and is currently targeted as a VHF/UHF operating room and as a back up HF room. The main meeting room is now completely cleaned up. Chris, K6PIC, has installed new 40M and 60M dipoles and an experimental horizontal 1000 ft loop circling the property (fed by the open wire tuner in Room #2). The loop promises to be a great low band performer! Chris had help installing the loop from WA6HHQ and AC6DN.

New pictures of the rooms and the site are on our pictures page.

WA6HHQ is donating a Pro-67C Yagi (3 elements on 40M through 10M) which is currently targeted for installation on the 60 ft pole 140 feet north of 20M 4 el Yagi. (See our pictures page for details.) Once it is up we plan to take down the small tri-bander on the temporary military tower, which will eliminate its interaction with the 4 element 20M Yagi. (They are less than 20 feet apart.) Installation should happen next month.

We are also investigating installing our Rohn 25G tower sections on one of the 3 ft x 3 ft cement pads located 150 ft outside the security fence. See the pictures page for details. We currently have about 60 feet of tower and are looking for another 20-30 ft, including a flat top tower section. We are also looking for one to two medium duty rotors, Ham - M / IV size. Please contact us if you can help out with any of the above or are interested in helping with the install.

Saturday, June 7th, 2003

Last night (Friday) Chris, K6PIC, and Eric, WA6HHQ finished cleaning out Room #1 and moved the WA6LIE packet mailbox and node from room #1 to the workshop. We reinstalled the FT-990 in room #1 and also ran the VHF/UHF discone feed line to the VHF/UHF rigs in room #2 so they now have an outside antenna. As before, Chris did the heavy lifting getting most of Room #1 empty before Eric arrived! (See new pictures below.)

We now have three clean, open operating rooms ready to go.

Also see our pictures page.

Friday, June 6, 2003

As part of our N6IJ station clean up and upgrade, a number of us descended on the station last night for a major station clean up, junk removal and to install new workstation corner tables in operating rooms #2 and #3.

Chris -the 'Night Owl'- Knight, K6PIC got an early start by arriving at 12:01 AM Thursday morning and spent 6 hours totally emptying rooms #2 and #3 into the main lounge. This was a superhuman effort that really helped get us off to a successful start. Thanks Chris!

Nine of us arrived (including Chris) at 6PM (Chris - when do you sleep?) and after marveling at the huge pile of equipment, parts and old furniture in the main meeting room, we proceeded to eat Pizza (thanks Kim!) and then spent the next 5 hours removing most of the older items, metal desks and magazines, totally cleaned out the rear shop / repair room and vacuumed and cleaned all of the rooms. We then installed the new tables in #2 and #3 and also brought up new HF and VHF/UHF stations in Room #2. We even had a little time at the end to work some European DX on 20M with the new equipment in room #2.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Room #1

(80M at night...)

HF: FT-990, L4B

Room #2

HF: IC740, SB220

VHF: Azden 2M FM Rig

UHF: IC 475 430-450 All mode

Room #3

HF: Older Collins and Heath gear shown, but we plan new equipment for this room

Workshop

Our goal was to open up the rooms for easy use and ease of installation for new rigs. Hopefully the station is much easier for members to use and to bring in their own equipment for temporary use in contests, DXing or just regular operating. Those of you who have visited the station before will be pleasantly surprised at how open and clean the whole facility is now.

Now on to the antennas!

There is still a lot to do. We're looking for more current HF equipment and antennas, another corner workstation for Room #1 similar to those in rooms #2 and #3, and also for some used Pentium class laptops for logging etc. Please email us to discuss any extra equipment in your shack that you would like to loan or donate to N6IJ.

Thanks to everyone who made it! We originally weren't planning on making this a big effort, but the surprise arrival of everyone made it a huge success.

Clean up crew:

Chris Knight, K6PIC

Max Cornell, K0MC

Kim Cohan, KD6TLB

Cap Pennell, KE6AFE

Jeff Orr, KG6KCO

David Shoaf, KG6IRW

Pat Barthelow, AA6EG

Scott King, AH6KL

Eric Swartz, WA6HHQ (Loaned IC740 HF Rig.)

(Our apologies if we missed listing anyone!)