It had been over a year since Ralph's beam had been blown off the roof in a high wind storm. During the month's Ralph had reviewed a number of options and finally settled on a two element Stepp-IR beam to be mounted on a 35 foot tower. After many months of working with Jim to get the tower in place and able to be swung up and the beam assembled, it was now the day to raise the antenna into the air!
The call went out to the club and most made their way to Ralph's on the lovely Sunday afternoon of February 15, 2009. Even two of his next door neighbours showed up to lend a hand. The process of raising the tower and beam went without a hitch thanks to the number of helping hands and well designed lifting mechanism. Soon the tower was up and the securing cables tightened. The design worked well and the tower is now well secured to the side of the house. A high wind should be little trouble for the new structure to handle. Once up we gathered for a photo op and then quickly dispersed so Ralph could continue setting up the cabling and calibration of the antenna.
Here are a few of the photos taken during the raising. Click on them to view a larger version.