Tower Timeline – Signals From the Point

Here for all to see is a re-creation of the highlights of the tower-related mass-emails flying crazily all around. Geoff W0CG has spearheaded this project with seemingly boundless energy. Seemingly tirelessly. But let’s the rest of us do a reality check, and confess we know full well Geoff’s energy is not unbounded and that we know full well how tired he must be. Heck, a lot of us are getting tired just watching Geoff work.

That’s a little upside down. Don’t be one of those upside down ones. Just sayin’. We gotta get this tower in the air, and the salt air (and contest season!) waits for no man. Your name needs to be on the list at the base of that tower! (Ask me how).

You can read about the beginnings of this home stretch on the big Europe Tower in a previous newsletter article here, dated July 4, 2018. Since then a whole lot of really visible progress has happened. The tower and related parts were ordered, purchased, received, otherwise acquired, transported from Ohio to Florida, put on a ship, delivered to the island, cleared customs, and now they have been delivered to Signal Point. What follows is the point-by-point (heh) on how all that has gone up to this point (heh heh).

July 6, 2018 – Doing the New Tower RIGHT

W0CG – Bolts may not do it for you, but the photo shows a thing of beauty. The top is a Rohn-supplied galvanized bolt for mating Rohn 55 sections together. Besides being galvanized, these bolts are near-garbage. Poor threads and galvanizing on the nuts so heavy that they don’t thread. That’s a tremendous pain up on the tower when you’re mating sections.

The bottom bolt is the same dimensions, but top grade stainless steel. We’ll use these to put the new tower together, much, much better. Nearly all of the section bolts on the old tower are disintegrating in the salt. The shipment of 75 section bolts arrived today. All hardware on the entire tower will be stainless, and the galvanized sections themselves will be triple epoxy coated. Exactly zero black electrical tape will be used on the tower because it is a rust nucleation point.

Doing this right costs more up front, of course, but will save us tons of maintenance work going forward.

Your tower contribution dollars are hard at work as I build the pile of stuff to go to Curacao for the project.

73 – Geoff, W0CG

2018-08-07 Miami Freight

W0CG – Soon we need to transport cargo for the Europe tower project from my garage in Suffield, Ohio to Miami. From there it will go by ocean freight to Curacao.

I had hoped that DX Engineering would consolidate that freight with our tower shipment from their Ohio warehouse, but after six weeks of inquiry they have not yet committed to do that. Because of the pressure of time we need to find another way.

The tower itself and many associated other large items will be shipped from DX Engineering, and I have no worries about the cost or the success of that shipment. This message is about all the other stuff that’s in my garage such as an AL-1200, lots of tower hardware, the Bencher Skyhawk, the XM-240 antenna, etc.

There are two options: 1) Use an LTL (less than load) commercial service, or 2) do it ourselves.

LTL service is very expensive, and I have not had good luck with it in the past. It’s critically important that EVERY BOX arrive concurrently on the AMCAR receiving dock in Miami. A fractured shipment would be a disaster. The preferred approach is to do the shipment ourselves, as in year 2000 when I made the drive myself and delivered freight to Miami using a rental truck.

The shipment will fit comfortably in a minivan. An open bed pickup truck would not work because it would not keep the shipment dry. So my question is CAN ANYONE VOLUNTEER A VEHICLE AND YOURSELF TO DRIVE THIS STUFF FROM OHIO TO MIAMI? It needs to arrive in Miami on September 6, 7, 10, or 11.

I explored the cost of a one-way rental minivan and flying back, and that one-way rental cost ($1300) is prohibitive. A better option is to rent a minivan in Akron and drive it back, returning it to Akron, but that’s also a costly rental. I have a minivan, but it’s in Idaho. Renting a U-Haul truck is also expensive, and that’s much more haul capacity than we need. A covered truck or minivan owned by a CCC member would be ideal.

So the questions is, CAN YOU HELP, either by doing this drive yourself or lending me a vehicle so I can do it? I don’t really have four days to spare, but if this is the only way. I’ll figure it out.

Ideas? Suggestions? I’ll be arriving in Ohio August 21.

Geoff

August 9, 2018 – The Miami Cargo Solution!

W0CG – N5OT has saved the day for CCC. [shucks … –ed] Mark and Kathy will arrive with their SUV and trailer at my home in Ohio on August 27. We will go to DX Engineering (3 miles) and pick up the tower sections and all other parts of that order. Then we’ll load the rest of the shipment items inside the SUV. They will then deliver all of that cargo to AMCAR in Miami.

This is a PERFECT solution because:

* It avoids the fears of lost pieces in LTL transportation.
* It eliminates the problem of DX Engineering being unable to assure us that their two separate shipments (one truck, one normal UPS) will arrive in Miami together and on our needed date range.
* Most important, it keeps everything together as ONE LOT, vastly reducing the odds of lost items, missed port dates, and simplifies and reduces the costs of customs clearance and cargo handling in Curacao.
* Finally, it greatly simplifies the paperwork I would have had to prepare for three separate shipments, each of which requires its own bill of lading and invoice packet.

On top of this, Pete, K8PGJ has offered whatever financial support we may need to make this happen, although the costs of Beckwith Motorfreight Ltd. (gas and motels) will be about the same as already budgeted.

We’re still very short-handed on the island. WI9WI offered to come help with Phase 1, but nobody has come forward to help with Phases 2 and 3. Airfare subsidies are available.

HUGE THANKS to Mark and Kathy,

Geoff / Idaho

2018-08-24 Out of the Blue

W0CG – A Friend of mine who works at DX Engineering, Ed, K8IV was kind enough to take part of a day off to help with getting many of the pieces to my QTH using his truck and trailer. Here are Ed and Bucky, N8OQQ right after the pallet was loaded onto the trailer at DX Engineering in Akron this morning.

It’s all at my Ohio QTH now, and W8WTS and I will start the final shipment prep this afternoon.

Thanks again to many generous members for making this possible.

73 de Geoff / Ohio

2018-08-28 Down the Road

W0CG – Off they go, turning out of my driveway yesterday afternoon (Monday) and headed for Florida, N5OT and Kathy and our new Europe tower.

Extensive user assembly required.

2018-08-30PJ2T Cargo Delivered to Miami

W0CG – Huge thanks to N5OT and Kathy. The tower and other cargo have been safely delivered to the freight forwarder in Miami. It will sail for Curacao on September 8, arriving probably on the 12th. It may take as long as two and a half weeks to get it through port processing and customs on the island.

The photo shows the sections in the process of being palletized less than an hour ago at the freight forwarder.

It may seem to you as if we have not yet started the Europe tower project, but in fact the project is much along already. The stuff has been designed, acquired, paid for, organized, packed, and documented, and is soon to arrive in Curacao.

WI9WI and I will start the next phase of the project in mid-October. We still could use another pair of hands if anyone is able to come down and help with tower painting, which will be the main activity for the first week+. We will also need to assemble the XM-240 (with considerable physical beefing up) and the K9SG Bencher Skyhawk, and replace some rusty Phillystran big grips. The SA tribander is also scheduled in October to be repaired, re-weatherproofed, and reinstalled. 50% airfare subsidy.

I will sleep well tonight. Phew. Mark and Kathy really simplified the logistics by doing this haul trip.

2018-08-31 N5OT Road Trip

N5OT – I wanted to report that the shipment bound for Curaçao was delivered to the shipper in a timely fashion and without incident. But you know this. Geoff has done a great job of keeping youall posted. But I wanted to chime in, share some more photos, and thank you all sincerely for allowing me to be a part of this incredible adventure.

We hauled our empty trailer from our home in Oklahoma to Geoff’s home in Ohio. Once we arrived, we loaded it all up.

It was fantastic that we could stop to share a cup of coffee with past-president Rick, N0YY and his wife Dee. Between Dee and Kathy they have done the food preparation for 7 major contests at Signal Point. Oh the stories they can tell. I’m glad they finally met. Rick and Dee live almost within sight of the interstate, on our exact route to Florida. GPS took us the 2 miles over to their new QTH on Wednesday morning. The coffee and camaraderie was fantastic! It was good to see old friends.

After leaving the home of Pine Knoll Sheep and Wool, we continued on our way toward the port of Miami where the entire consolidated load would be delivered in a single lot.

This was the point where my hair stopped being on fire, and the time when Kathy and I could drive back home to resume something resembling real life for a bit longer. I can’t tell you how good it feels to have helped move this project along. The thought of all-new Rohn 55G playing such a foundational role in the Signal Point radio house front yard certainly will make me sleep well at night, having the hands-on experience with that station that I do. You can sleep well too.

And a new 40 meter beam we can turn! All that, and so much more … 31 discrete packages in all.

Answers to questions you could rightly have, since as a club you have invested a huge amount of capital in this improvement:

All the stuff that was weather-vulnerable was carried inside the SUV. The load on the trailer did not require being covered (Refer to previous weatherproofing and shrinkwrapping discussion).

The forklift operators were the smoothest, gentlest, most professional team of shipping guys I have ever seen. We made a lot of effort to avoid damage, and we succeeded.

I will have my expenses covered, nothing more. The projected cost is less than what it would have cost to have had this consolidated shipment moved from Ohio to Florida in a single bunch, all together, which we felt was mission-critical. Geoff and Jim and I worked all this out in advance.

I’m very pleased to report that this big bunch of stuff is on its way to Curaçao!

73 – Mark, N5OT

2018-08-31 Tower Load

W0CG – On Tuesday N5OT and Kathy were making their way south toward Miami with the ocean cargo. I reminded him that Rick and Dee had relocated from Iowa to Hillsville, VA, and that he would likely pass very close to their new plantation. As you can see from the photo they made contact and had an excellent visit.

As per an earlier E-mail, I mentioned that they are moving the sheep operation to Virginia. Notice the back of the truck, www.PineKnollSheep.com and the Virginia license plats “FLEECE.” They are obviously well along on that process.

Our fingers are crossed that we will see Rick and Dee back at Signal Point once they get stabilized from this gigantic relocation and change of life. We owe a great deal to Rick from his years of technical and organizational leadership at PJ2T. If not for him, we would still, among other problems, be operating at crappy cheap plastic folding tables and have rusted and fused thrust bearings. The list of what he has done for the club is a very long one!

2018-08-31 Surgical Precision

W0CG – Here’s another photo from yesterday around noon as the tower sections were being unloaded at AMCAR Freight in Miami. Mark said “I was stunned. Watching them work in the warehouse was more than impressive. It blew me away.” He said the fork lift guy worked like a surgeon.

Our cargo is in good hands with these guys. Like clockwork, the shipment was loaded for transport and set sail for Curacao. It arrived about a week later, without incident.

2018-09-19 Tower Shipment Released on Curacao

W0CG – A major milestone in our mega-project was reached today. Curacao Customs has released our shipment. Caribbean Cargo Services has completed their processing work, and the new tower and accompanying other items are in the warehouse and available to us as of this afternoon. I have made arrangements for local delivery of the shipment to Signal Point on Friday, October 12, and I paid the CCS invoice amount today via local transfer from my on-island bank account. We can all breathe a sigh of relief now and pat ourselves on the back for getting this all done, and again we thank N5OT and Kathy for driving the cargo from Ohio to Miami.

It may seem that everything arrived too soon, but today was in fact the exact date I was hoping for when I planned this back in May. Many, many things can go wrong with a shipment like this (primarily hurricanes and Curacao customs delays and strikes), so it is much preferred to have it there early as opposed to getting our crew to the island and there being no tower there yet.

If you’re interested, here’s a rough breakdown of the costs of the shipment from my Ohio garage to Signal Point. (K8IV did the first leg of the shipment from DX Engineering to my garage as a free favor.)

Reimbursement to N5OT for driving the shipment to Miami – 1628.00
Processing in Miami and the actual ocean freight charge – 1205.08
Curacao general tax – 663.70
Curacao import duty – 804.26
Local Curacao handling and delivery to house – 421.35
Insurance – 143.82
Many other small miscellaneous charges – 168.05

TOTAL SHIP COST – $5034.26

(My original two years ago very rough estimate of the total ship cost was $4500, so we were pretty darned close. The Curacao general tax charge is a newly-instituted cost that I didn’t know about. If not for that, my estimate of 4500 would have been almost perfectly right.) By the way, we shipped some items that were not directly part of the tower project, thus our new AL-1200 (6) and our donated (K9SG) Bencher Skyhawk are now on the island. I will take a few last minute small items in my checked airline bag next month at no cost.

Treasurer W8WTS will be able to give you the EXACT number, but to date we have spent about $16.8K on this project.

Here, below, is my best estimate of the costs remaining.

NR0X professional climber lost income replacement – 1000.00
W3YQ professional climber airfare reimbursement – 950.00
One day crane rental including operator – 1800.00
11 gallons epoxy paint to be bought on Curacao – 999.58
Airfare subsidies for four CCC members @ $475 – 1900.00
50% car subsidy for 63 days @ $14/day – 882.00

TOTAL REMAINING – $7531.58

Also, there are always unforeseen surprise costs that might arise, but I don’t expect much of this given the care with which we estimated the project initially.

This is much more our Treasurer’s domain than mine, but my rough accounting comes out that we will need just under $5000 additional in donations to complete the project. Obviously about 70% of the project is already paid for, but we will be asking for help with this additional amount in the coming months. That’s only $250 per member.

Once again, I extend my profound thanks to all of our members who have so generously supported this, our largest project by far since the initial construction of the station in years 2000/01. Thanks also to some others from the Arizona Outlaws and to Anders, SM4KYN for generous contributions.

73 – Geoff, W0CG

2018-10-05 Here is the Lineup

W0CG – The details and personnel are falling into place. The first project week in October, WI9WI and Annette will come to help, arriving the 15th. Jim is donating his airfares and not requesting a 50% reimbursement. Annette will be diving most all day each day but will take care of food so that Jim and I can concentrate on the project work.

After CQWW SSB, Jason, NR0X arrives for a week beginning November 3. Jason is a professional climber. We have covered his airfare. Also coming are my local Spokane Washington friend Gary, AD7XG and his XYL Svetlana who is also a ham. He’s an experienced climber, and Svetlana is very experienced with tower work on the ground side. I have worked with her on tower projects here in Eastern Washington and she is very fit and absolutely tireless. Those two will receive the 50% airfare reimbursement.

After they all leave on November 10, Dorothy arrives on the 11th and we will continue work on the tower and QTH, then host WW CW. Dorothy will be chef for the contest with lots of help from the crew.

Immediately after WWCW we will take all the rest of the wires off the Europe tower and remove the remaining feedlines, loosen bolts and turnbuckles, and generally prep for the crane work.

On December 1 Tim, W3YQ, another professional climber, arrives. I talked to him yesterday and he has decided to donate his airfare, so that will save us significant money. W8WTS possibly will also be arriving right after WWCW to lend a hand. We could really use one or two more able-bodied people on the ground for the December 1 – 8 week of the actual tower swap.

Recently both SM4KYN and K1ZN have donated $250 without even being asked. Sincere thanks to all who are responding so positively to these milestones in the Europe Tower project.

Thanks – Geoff, W0CG

2018-10-09 Hearty Thanks to Anders and Jeff

W0CG – Please join me in thanking Anders, SM4KYN, and Jeff, K1ZN who each have made a $250 donation to the Europe tower project. (This is Anders’ second donation!)

A couple of weeks ago, once the shipment had arrived on the island, I sent a message giving a rough accounting of where we are on the finances for this mega-project. In that message I mentioned that something on the order of $250/member would be enough to finish the project. This was not an “ask” but rather a financial update, but these two guys were kind enough to pitch in those amounts anyway.

After I get to the island and we start assembling the tower and new antennas, we’ll be able to give you a much more exact figure on what it will take to get the project done. Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of the needed funds have been raised and spent. This last part is just the cleanup to get us to the end without incurring burdensome debt in the club account.

Thanks, 73,

– Geoff / Idaho

2018-10-09 Help Wanted

W0CG – We still very much could use one more person to help with the tower project December 1 – 8. W8WTS has just signed up for most of that week and W3YQ, our professional climber, will also be there. Those two plus Dorothy and me are not enough hands to safely do all the work that’s required. (We are hoping that December 4 or 5 will be crane day.) There will be a huge amount of work to do that week that simply can’t be done any earlier.

The deal still stands that you will receive a 50% airfare subsidy for your work trip. This is a long-standing club policy when members are willing to work in the dirt and hot sun for a week helping with station projects.

Can anyone help or can you nominate somebody you know outside of CCC?

Thanks, 73,

– Geoff / Idaho

2018-10-12 Thanks VE3CX

W0CG – Our member Tom, VE3CX, has responded to my desperate, begging pleas for help and he will be here December 1 – 8 to help with the installation of the new tower. Huge thanks to Tom for coming to the fore. That will give us him, W8WTS, W3YQ, me, and Dorothy. Tom and Jim are also highly experienced tower guys, and WTS and YQ know each other well from work at K8AZ. The five of us should be able to get this done. I will also arrange to have Zoom here and it now appears that Mike Maley will be her that week also. (He’s the next door neighbor.)

Thanks Tom,

– Geoff / Curacao

2018-10-12 Ocean Shipment Arrives in Curacao

W0CG in Curacao – See the photos. The shipment arrived today on the exact planned date. All 31 labeled shipment items are here in good condition. That’s another HUGE milestone achieved in our tower replacement project, and I again thank everyone who worked on this project and helped pick up the tab to acquire this stuff and then get it to Signal Point. Mark and Kathy can celebrate now knowing that their long drive worked out perfectly and that all the stuff is finally here.

The delivery guys were not allowed to do anything except drop everything in the back yard by the car. It was thundering all around and raining black sky in all quadrants, so I hustled like mad to get the boxes and crates and the items that were inserted in the sections into the house or under cover on the porch. Jim, all of the inserted items in the bubble wrap were in perfect condition. Made it before the rain, and now only the 10 sections remain in the yard.

I can’t move them myself, but freshwater rain won’t hurt them a bit. I’ll try to get Zoom or our next door neighbor to help move the tower pieces, but neither of them is around at present.

73 de Geoff / Curacao

2018-10-14 The Tower Painting Table

W0CG – I built this”table” today for painting the tower sections. It is somewhat shaded here so help protect all of us when the painting begins.

That is Section 1 on there now. (The tower in the background is the one we’re replacing). We will be able to stand inside table this and paint an entire section by rolling it toward the back so as to get at all three sides. Once a section is done and cured, it will be removed and added to the tower, section by section, on blocks on the ground, ready for the crane. Each section needs to be very carefully prepped with soapy water and then an ammonia solution, then primed, followed by two coats of epoxy. This will be time consuming, but WI9WI will arrive tomorrow to lend a much needed hand. Some of the WW SSB crew has also offered to help.

It was not possible to work outside much of Friday and all of Saturday because of the rain.

I have spent much of two days reassembling the station from its deep mothball state, and cleaning up much mis-cabled and mis-labeled stuff, and finding and installing cables that had been removed. HUGE THANKS to KB7Q who has been hand-holding me, remotely loading up all the software on the four PCs, finding and fixing configuration problems with the K3s and COM ports. and many other things. I don’t quite see how the club ever survived before Gene joined up. Also, there has been some remote operating, and that all seems to be working fine except for very minor glitches.

Have to go to town tomorrow, reluctantly, to buy paint, ammonia, some more groceries, and to try to order a new air conditioner for the West Bedroom.

Lot of work, but little by little we will be ready for the contest season as the tower project proceeds apace.

73 de Geoff / Curacao

2018-10-18 Report From the Front

W0CG – We are so busy here, and so dead at the end of the day, that we’re not getting much news out.

The tower section painting is well behind schedule because we have had so much rain. Today, for example, it rained all day and there was thunder and lightning at mid-afternoon.

Unable to paint today, we tackled assembly of the XM-240 boom. This was not straightforward because we added extreme beef up to the boom, and it involved a lot of pieces and some custom work, but now at the end of the day the much-strengthened boom is complete. Almost all of the work today was done in a steady straight down heavy rain out on the east patio of the East Sunroom.

The photo shows the stock boom material on the right and at the left the thickwall stiffener tubing we put inside the boom. The entire length of the boom is now triple the stock wall thickness except for a couple of lightly loaded boom couplers, which and double wall thickness. this converts a 58 mph boom into a 119 mph boom. We’re taking the time to do this RIGHT, with anti-seize onall hardware and lots of penetrox inside the boom. This is the last time I’ll install a 40 yagi and it will be done 100% right.

W8WTS: Those cardboard boxes we wrapped and then bubble-wrapped in my garage in Ohio and shipped inside the tower sections all came out perfectly dry, safe, and intact.

If it’s nice tomorrow we will paint, otherwise will continue on the XM-240 prep. The elements will also be very significantly strengthened.

All these pieces will eventually become part of the new 40 meter boom.

2018-10-18 Thanks Fitzpatricks

W0CG – Huge thanks to WI9WI and KA9DOC for flying down here for a week to lend a hand. Here they are yesterday putting a primer coat on what will become the new overhead messenger from the WARC to the Europe tower.

This is hot and tedious work. Further, Jim turned down the club’s offered 50% airfare reimbursement, thus helping us to get closer to bringing this project off in the black.

73 de Geoff

2018-10-18 Section Painting Factory

W0CG – Here’s the setup for painting the sections. It takes about 90 minutes to put a coat on one section. Prep takes about that long also, including power sanding, dusting, and then putting a micro etch onto the surface with vinegar. It will go faster once all 10 have been primed. Right now, because of the bad weather, we only have 2 of 10 primed thus far. We need this rain to stop!