AB1OC On The Tower

Well, our 2m tower-mounted preamp system went on the blink recently so I decided to climb the tower and replace the preamp unit today. The preamp systems for our 2m and 70cm yagis are at the 95 ft level on our tower so the repair involved a climb to the top of the tower.

2m Preamp System

The climb took much more time than the repair did. The picture above shows the inside of the 2m preamp housing which holds the preamp itself plus the T/R relay which protects it during high-power transmit operation. A couple of screws and removing and reconnecting the cables were all that was required to change out the faulty preamp.

AB1QB Ground Crew

Anita (AB1QB) helped me as my ground crew on this one and she spent some time in the shack testing the new preamp to ensure that everything was working correctly. After a quick test, we buttoned up the preamp housing and I took a little time to enjoy the view from the top of the tower.

View From The Top

This was my first climb to the top of our tower and it was both exhilarating and tiring at the same time. It’s good to have the preamp working properly again. More fun with EME on 2m is planned for later today when the moon is on the horizon.

– Fred (AB1OC)