K5ZD – K5ZD

2026 ARRL DX Contest CW K5ZD

February 24, 2026 K5ZD writeup-8

                    ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2026

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
Operating Time (hrs): 42
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:
Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   80    37
   80:  299    58
   40:  882    86
   20: 1305   100
   15: 1341   100
   10:  579    86
-------------------
Total: 4486   467  Total Score = 6,284,886

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments

Do I have fun DXing (go assisted) or do I make things hard (go unassisted)? Both W8 single op records are high and would require considerable effort. Decided an hour before the contest to go old school and work without the cluster.

Conditions at the start only sounded fair on 10 and 15. 40 had incredible signals from Europe, so I started there. When the rate slowed, I went to 80 and found a very quiet band with no static. A few CQs to get a skimmer spot, and it was off to the races. As in WW CW, 160 meters to Europe was much better early with a small peak later right at European sunrise.

I had no powerline noise or electronic noise on any band for the first 36 hours! This made a huge difference on 80 and 160 as I was able to copy weak callers from Europe.

I was mopping up Europeans on 40m and thinking of going to sleep around 0700z when I decided to check 20m one last time. Wow! The band was wide open. One CQ produced an insane pileup. I had a great hour from 0719 to 0819 and
then it died. I went back to 40m and discovered an unbelievable opening to Japan. Never heard JA so loud, with minimal flutter, and so easy to work. With Europe still coming in, it made for a good hour. Worked JR2GRX on 80 around 0950z and decided if I was going to sleep, it had to be now. Set the alarm for 1130z (sunrise is at 12:20z).

Woke up before the alarm and discovered 20m was already wide open. Found a clear spot at 14005 and cranked out two great hours. Western Europe was very loud, but so were Russia and Asia. What a pleasure to have these conditions when the world was focused on working W/VE!

It was so busy and so good that I didn’t head to 15m until almost 1300z. Found a frequency and had an immediate pileup. Lots of Europeans were watching the cluster for any new station to appear. Makes for a wild first 20 minutes on any new band. I had 220 QSOs in the 13z hour, which included a band change to 10m.

I didn’t stay on 10m long because it just wasn’t as open as 15m. I placed my bet that 10m would be better the second day and went all in on 15m for Saturday. Had I known, I might have invested more time on 10 that first morning.

The bands just kept rolling as I followed the Europeans down to 20m for a few good hours. The first JAs on 15m were not loud, and I had to call them. I got no answers to CQs from Japan. I checked 10m and was surprised to find the JAs were much louder there than on 15m. Still couldn’t get any answers, but I was able to make some QSOs.

Went to 40m at my sunset and the band was wide open to Europe. I had already worked over 600 contacts on that band, so the rates were slow but steady. Kept finding more QSOs and mults as I worked my way around 40, 80, and 160. Decided sleep was a priority, so I took a short nap from 0340-0450z. Woke up to a good run on 80 and then 40. 160 did not sound as good as it had on Friday night. It is always amazing to me how late we can work Europeans on 40 meters after their sunrise. We did not have the 20m opening.

Slept from 0815z to 1100z. Worked JA, VK, 4U1UN, and FK on 80 before getting E2M on 40m LP. Arrived on 20m at 1130z and found signals, but it was still waking up for us. Good run started at 1138z, and that restored my faith that conditions would be good for the day. Signals from Europe were amazing, so I stayed on 20 until 13z. Two huge hours followed on 15m.

I was monitoring 10m, but it was not sounding good. Made the jump to 10m at 1506z. Very loud signals from southern Eu, and some scatter from parts north. Got exactly one hour of rate, and then it was back to tuning both 10 and 15.

The signals from Europe at 16-18z on 15 meters were simply unbelievable. Some of the loudest were almost pinning the s-meter on the K3. I already had more than 1100 QSOs on 15, so the rate was slow. No choice but to call lots of unanswered CQs.

I watched the scoreboard all weekend using the view that combines the single op and single op assisted scores. The assisted guys all had huge multiplier totals, but that info gave me some idea of what to strive for. The unassisted guys tended to have more QSOs because we were focused on rate. AA3B (assisted) had huge QSO and multiplier numbers. He got 600 QSOs ahead of me on day 1, and I could never cut into that lead. My target competition started as NA8V, but switched to Jon AA1K. Jon was ahead of me on QSOs, and we were close on mults. I took up the chase, and that motivation kept me head down and on the radio working hard Sunday afternoon. Without the scoreboard, I might have been less committed or even stopped operating. I thought we were possibly battling for the SOHP win. I knew K5GN was very active and doing well. I learned after the contest that he had a monster score and was far ahead. If he had been on the scoreboard, I am not sure I would have invested the same energy. Hate to admit that…

The contest was a grind to the end. It was in the 21st hour that I hot-switched a relay while transmitting and took out the ability to switch between the stack and the tribander on 20m. Definitely need to invest in some switching automation as it is just too hard to remember everything late in the contest. 40 was wide open from 22z on, but not many people were left to work.

Spent the last 20 minutes beaming Japan on 15m and was rewarded with a small run of very loud signals. A great way to end a very entertaining weekend!

The number of stations worked on 6 bands tells the story of just how good the conditions were. I had 45 six-banders and 85 more 5-banders.

Thanks to contesters around the world for taking the time to focus on working W/VE this weekend!

Station

2 x Elecraft K3 + PGXL amplifier
WriteLog + MMTTY + 2Tone

160m: Inverted vee at 70′
80m: Inverted vee @ 80′
40m: 2-el Moxon @ 90′, 2-ele 40-2CD (NE) at 40′
20m: 5-el/5-el @ 80’/50′
15m: 5-el/5-el @53’/28′
20-10m: C31xr @70′

Rates

QSO/DX by hour and band

Hour   160M     80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm   Off

0000Z  --+--   --+--  103/35   --+--   31/11    3/2   137/48    137/48   
0100Z    -     66/24   37/6      -      7/4     4/2   114/36    251/84   
0200Z  10/10   46/7      -     22/15    3/2      -     81/34    332/118  
0300Z  30/14   22/3     2/0    10/4      -       -     64/21    396/139  
0400Z    -      4/1   155/11     -       -       -    159/12    555/151  
0500Z   7/5    11/3    81/3      -       -       -     99/11    654/162  
0600Z  13/2    38/4    40/2      -       -       -     91/8     745/170  
0700Z   1/1    18/7     7/4   110/25     -       -    136/37    881/207  
0800Z  --+--   --+--   93/11   26/3    --+--   --+--  119/14   1000/221  
0900Z   2/2     7/3    26/4      -       -       -     35/9    1035/230      8
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1035/230     60
1100Z    -       -       -    100/10     -       -    100/10   1135/240     27
1200Z    -       -       -    174/7    12/12     -    186/19   1321/259  
1300Z    -       -       -       -    142/20   78/22  220/42   1541/301  
1400Z    -       -       -       -      8/3   139/16  147/19   1688/320  
1500Z    -       -       -       -    200/7      -    200/7    1888/327  
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--  145/6    25/5   170/11   2058/338  
1700Z    -       -       -       -    132/4    17/9   149/13   2207/351  
1800Z    -       -       -     97/3    33/3     7/1   137/7    2344/358  
1900Z    -       -       -    137/5    12/3      -    149/8    2493/366  
2000Z    -       -       -     94/2     9/3    10/2   113/7    2606/373  
2100Z    -       -       -     38/0     6/2    17/8    61/10   2667/383  
2200Z    -       -       -     10/2    40/1    32/3    82/6    2749/389  
2300Z    -       -     88/1     5/2      -     27/1   120/4    2869/393  
0000Z  --+--   --+--   38/1    --+--   14/1    30/2    82/4    2951/397  
0100Z    -     17/0    17/3    16/6     5/1      -     55/10   3006/407  
0200Z   1/0     7/0      -       -     13/2      -     21/2    3027/409  
0300Z   9/1     9/1     2/0     3/1      -       -     23/3    3050/412     21
0400Z    -      1/0      -       -       -       -      1/0    3051/412     60
0500Z   1/0    45/1      -     38/2      -       -     84/3    3135/415  
0600Z   4/1     2/1    52/1    26/0      -       -     84/3    3219/418  
0700Z   2/1      -     63/2      -       -       -     65/3    3284/421  
0800Z  --+--   --+--   12/0    --+--   --+--   --+--   12/0    3296/421     49
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3296/421     60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    3296/421     60
1100Z    -      5/3     3/2    47/3      -       -     55/8    3351/429     12
1200Z    -       -       -    112/2    12/1      -    124/3    3475/432  
1300Z    -       -       -       -    174/3     2/1   176/4    3651/436  
1400Z    -       -       -       -    150/2    14/1   164/3    3815/439  
1500Z    -       -       -       -     19/0   126/5   145/5    3960/444  
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   60/2    43/1     8/0   111/3    4071/447  
1700Z    -       -       -     58/0     5/0    19/1    82/1    4153/448  
1800Z    -       -       -     16/0    23/1     2/0    41/1    4194/449  
1900Z    -       -       -     23/1    12/2    11/4    46/7    4240/456  
2000Z    -       -       -     57/1     6/4     3/0    66/5    4306/461  
2100Z    -       -       -     20/3    16/0     5/1    41/4    4347/465  
2200Z    -       -     43/0     5/1    18/1      -     66/2    4413/467  
2300Z    -      1/0    20/0     1/0    51/0      -     73/0    4486/467  

Totals: 80/37 299/58  882/86 1305/100 1341/100 579/86

Best 60 minutes: 224 starting 21-Feb-2026 12:58

Worked on 6 bands: 45

8P5A 9A1A 9A1P CR2N CR3DX CR3W DA1TT DD1A DD2D DK4WW DK8MM DL3DXX E7DX ED8X EI7M G3P G5W HD8R HG6N II2Q II9P IK1PMR IO4X KH6J KP2B OK7W OM7M OP5T OQ5M OT2A P3X P49Y PA3AAV PJ2T PJ4A PJ4K SP8R TI7W TM6M TO4A UW5Y V3T WP3A ZF1A ZF5T

Worked on 5 bands: 85

By Continent

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total      %

    EU      56    264    780   1127   1072    391    3690    82.3
    OC       1      7     13     21     19     17      78     1.7
    AS       1      3     44     84    159     84     375     8.4
    AF       3      5     14     17     18      7      64     1.4
    SA       6      7     12     31     46     56     158     3.5
    NA      13     13     19     25     27     24     121     2.7

Most worked entities:

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
    DL      11     56    131    220    215     82     715
     I       7     15     67    105     91     36     321
    JA              2     32     45    133     76     288   <<--
    UA             10     29     80     80     11     210
    SP       2     21     36     58     58     21     196
    OK       2     14     46     46     51     30     189
     G       4     11     42     55     55     21     188
    PA       2     11     32     64     47     24     180
    EA       3     10     41     40     46     29     169
    HA       2     18     38     39     39     17     153
     F       4     15     27     24     23     11     104
    S5       3      7     24     26     29     14     103

2026 CQ WPX RTTY Contest K5ZD

February 16, 2026 K5ZD writeup-8

                    CQ WPX RTTY Contest - 2026

Call: K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W8
Operating Time (hrs): 30
OpMode: 2BSIQ

Summary:
Band  QSOs
------------
   80:  246
   40:  602
   20:  591
   15:  719
   10:  273
------------
Total: 2431  Prefixes = 898  Total Score = 6,475,478

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments

I always enjoy WPX, and the RTTY version is a great start to the Spring contest season. Everything worked, and my line noise was even low for much of the time. I decided not to use a 2×1 call and just be myself. 🙂

I was racing furiously at the start to figure out why the second radio would not transmit. It was a wrong setting in the WriteLog and MK2R+ combo. I had to do AFSK. If I did FSK, the PGXL would trip on ‘Early RF’ and no amount of delays would fix it.

Contest started OK. After 3 hours of watching the scoreboard and AA3B get way ahead, I decided the W8 record of 4.5 million by KI6DY last year would be my goal.

Conditions on Saturday were good. Even though I had a few runs on 10m, it was clearly not the band it has been in the past few years. That made 15m the money band all day. I was having so much fun, I didn’t really take much time off. Just enough to take a walk and enjoy the warmer temperatures.

Heading out to the shack on Saturday morning before sunrise

Decided to sleep at 0100-0430z. When I sat down to listen, the bands were awful. Not many signals and lots of flutter. Even 80 sounded bad. I should have waited an hour before getting back on, but I couldn’t resist making some QSOs. After 0530z, the bands started to recover. I made myself stop just after 0700z so I would have some operating time for Sunday.

Conditions on Sunday morning were not good. 10m didn’t open to Europe except for a few scatter contacts with the big guys. 15m was open, but it was clear the Europeans were hearing each other very well, so lots of QRM and waiting for my turn. As darkness passed across Europe, it got better. 20m was open to Europe all day, so that helped.

I passed the record early Sunday afternoon, so the new goal was 5 million, and then 6. Overall, it was an entertaining weekend. That kept me in the chair and focused on making as many QSOs and multipliers as possible.

I had a bunch of off time to take near the end. Probably came back on too early and ran out of time with 20 minutes to go. The high bands did finally open to Japan, but I could only work the big guys.

I did RTTY contests for years with only one decoder. Now that I am using two, it is amazing how much one copies when the other gets nothing. Maybe I need to try a third one!

It is simply amazing how many prefixes there are!

Station

2 x Elecraft K3 + PGXL amplifier
WriteLog + MMTTY + 2Tone

80m: Inverted vee @ 80′
40m: 2-el Moxon @ 90′, 2-ele 40-2CD (NE) at 40′
20m: 5-el/5-el @ 80’/50′
15m: 5-el/5-el @53’/28′
20-10m: C31xr @70′

By Continent

           80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total      %

    NA     197    301    169    168     56     891    36.7
    EU      46    278    369    485    162    1340    55.1
    AF       2      8      5     10      3      28     1.2
    SA       1      7     16     23     40      87     3.6
    OC       0      4      6      3      5      18     0.7
    AS       0      4     26     30      7      67     2.8

Rates

QSO/Pref by hour and band

Hour      80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total       Cumm  Off

D1-0000Z  --+--   64/58   10/9     3/3    --+--   77/70     77/70   
D1-0100Z  17/12   61/48     -     14/14    2/2    94/76    171/146  
D1-0200Z  54/19   37/27     -       -       -     91/46    262/192  
D1-0300Z  12/6    37/25    2/2      -       -     51/33    313/225   16
D1-0400Z  40/19   38/27     -       -       -     78/46    391/271  
D1-0500Z  27/15   45/27     -       -       -     72/42    463/313  
D1-0600Z  23/8    33/19     -       -       -     56/27    519/340  
D1-0700Z   1/0      -       -       -       -      1/0     520/340   59
D1-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0     520/340   60
D1-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     520/340   60
D1-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     520/340   60
D1-1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0     520/340   60
D1-1200Z  10/5    11/5    49/29   38/22     -    108/61    628/401    3
D1-1300Z    -       -     27/11   86/47   10/3   123/61    751/462  
D1-1400Z    -       -       -     69/23   60/21  129/44    880/506  
D1-1500Z    -       -       -     77/32   68/15  145/47   1025/553  
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   48/28   35/8    83/36   1108/589  
D1-1700Z    -       -      8/1    60/17   16/4    84/22   1192/611  
D1-1800Z    -       -     24/7    49/10   11/5    84/22   1276/633  
D1-1900Z    -       -     71/10   22/8      -     93/18   1369/651  
D1-2000Z    -       -     22/3    10/6      -     32/9    1401/660   40
D1-2100Z    -       -     24/8    13/4      -     37/12   1438/672   34
D1-2200Z    -      2/1    25/9    33/14    9/2    69/26   1507/698  
D1-2300Z    -     57/12   24/6      -     11/1    92/19   1599/717  
D2-0000Z  --+--   22/8     7/2     5/2     5/1    39/13   1638/730   25
D2-0100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1638/730   60
D2-0200Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1638/730   60
D2-0300Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1638/730   60
D2-0400Z  14/3    16/2      -       -       -     30/5    1668/735   33
D2-0500Z  29/5    25/2      -       -       -     54/7    1722/742  
D2-0600Z   9/1    49/10     -       -       -     58/11   1780/753  
D2-0700Z   4/0     4/1      -       -       -      8/1    1788/754   53
D2-0800Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--    0/0    1788/754   60
D2-0900Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1788/754   60
D2-1000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1788/754   60
D2-1100Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1788/754   60
D2-1200Z   5/3    14/2    27/10     -       -     46/15   1834/769   27
D2-1300Z    -     36/2    64/13    1/0      -    101/15   1935/784  
D2-1400Z    -       -     41/12   14/5     1/1    56/18   1991/802  
D2-1500Z    -       -     26/7    19/4    12/5    57/16   2048/818  
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   39/7    47/10   --+--   86/17   2134/835  
D2-1700Z    -       -      8/1    33/3    10/3    51/7    2185/842  
D2-1800Z    -       -     28/4    32/4      -     60/8    2245/850  
D2-1900Z    -       -     13/4     2/0    14/2    29/6    2274/856   29
D2-2000Z    -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2274/856   60
D2-2100Z    -       -     18/7     3/2     9/3    30/12   2304/868   35
D2-2200Z    -     20/5    18/4    35/11     -     73/20   2377/888  
D2-2300Z   1/1    31/4    16/3     6/2      -     54/10   2431/898   18

Totals:  246/97  602/285 591/169 719/271 273/76

Best 60 minutes: 150 beginning 14-Feb-2026 15:02

Worked on 5 bands:

9A1A AG4TT CR3W DM3W EI7M IO6T IQ3ME K9CT KC7V ND2T OM5ZW ON5GQ P49X S53R SN7Q TM3Z WV4P

Worked on 4 bands: 53

Most worked entities

           80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
     K     184    269    152    132     47     784
    DL      11     51     75    122     36     295
     I       6     38     48     59     24     175
    SP       2     12     26     33     13      86
    EA       2     18     18     27      7      72
     G             13     20     29      7      69
    VE      11     21     15     17      4      68
     F       4     13      8     12      9      46

2025 CQ WW Contest CW K5ZD

December 1, 2025 K5ZD writeup-8

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW - 2025

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

Class: SO(A)AB HP
QTH: W8
Operating Time (hrs): 41.5
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   48    13       31
   80:  197    19       77
   40: 1128    37      125
   20:  845    39      139
   15:  975    38      139
   10:  856    32      122
------------------------------
Total: 4049   179      633  Total Score = 9,392,191

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments

When I moved to Ohio in May, the primary design goal for the station was to be “loud enough.” This contest showed that the goal was accomplished, even though it meant not being as loud as I used to be from New England. 🙂

The goal for the contest was to beat the W8 record for SOAB HP Assisted. I passed that with about 10 hours left to go in the contest — mission accomplished.

The contest started OK, but I had no idea which band to be on. I just kept trying things until something worked. 40 was the big surprise Friday night as the QSOs just kept coming. I went to 80, and all the European signals were just at my local noise level. I called a few, and they came right back to me. Wow!

Same thing on 160. Both nights it was easier to work Europe early than at their sunrise.

I knew better than to push up the bands in the morning. I stayed on 20 and then 15 because the rate was good. I listened to 10, and it took a long time to open. I knew from the prop forecast that Sunday would be better than Saturday, so I went all in on 15m on Saturday.

On Sunday morning, I could hear Europe on 10, but they couldn’t hear me.

It was like I was just outside the opening. It did eventually open, and not having so many QSOs on the band meant I had some nice rates.

Some cool QSOs were working 40m long path. Got XU7RRC, BY3GA, E2A, and some JAs. Also worked VK6T on 4 bands. Nice of RA0LQ to give us zone 34.

Worked 4U1UN on 6 bands!! Also VE2IM on 6 bands. Great ops by both.

I only used the cluster for multiplier chasing and to populate the band map. As things slowed down around 19z on Sunday, I went into “spot clicking”

mode. A great way to catch up on all the guys who were just CQing. Very frustrating at times, as I had to wait my turn for all the other assisted guys closer to the Atlantic.

The problem with calling people is that they can’t seem to copy my call on the first try. It goes, K… K5… K5 and GD, GB, ZZ, ZB, KH7D, KH8D, KI8D, KS8D, etc. Not fun when you are tired and frustrated!

It was exciting as the QSO total approached 4000. Never thought I would be able to make that many contacts from here!

Shout out to the PGXL amp that I purchased over the summer. It was so cool to change bands and not have to tune the amp. Definitely made me more willing to QSY for a marginal packet spot.

Everything in the station worked great all weekend. WW RTTY was a great proving ground as I blew up a K3 and was able to make it so that wouldn’t happen again.

Even with the disturbed conditions, it was a great contest. Can’t wait to do it again next year!

Station

Two K3, one PGXL
Microham MK2R+
WriteLog

C31xr @ 70′
40m Moxon @ 90′ / 40-2CD @ 65′
Hygain 205CA @80’/53′
Hygain 155CA @43’/25′
80m inv vee @ 78′
160m inv vee @ 68′

Stack spacings are close because of limited tower heights (80′, 70′).

Really missed not having a dedicated antenna pointed south. That will be fixed next year.

Rates

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

Hour   160M     80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm    Off

0000Z  --+--   --+--   73/39   31/33   11/4    --+--  115/76    115/76   
0100Z    -      9/12   57/28   23/13     -       -     89/53    204/129  
0200Z   7/12   53/30   10/5      -      2/3      -     72/50    276/179  
0300Z    -      5/3   112/20     -       -       -    117/23    393/202  
0400Z    -      9/5   114/4      -       -       -    123/9     516/211  
0500Z   6/5    20/16   40/17    1/2      -       -     67/40    583/251  
0600Z  13/9    12/6    53/9      -       -       -     78/24    661/275   9
0700Z   1/1     6/4    71/4     3/4      -       -     81/13    742/288  
0800Z   1/1     3/0     2/2     2/3    --+--   --+--    8/6     750/294  40
0900Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     750/294  60
1000Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0     750/294  60
1100Z   1/2     1/0     5/3    41/24     -       -     48/29    798/323  20
1200Z    -       -     13/4    99/23   19/21     -    131/48    929/371  
1300Z    -       -       -      1/1   214/33    2/4   217/38   1146/409  
1400Z    -       -       -       -    177/7    15/17  192/24   1338/433  
1500Z    -       -       -       -     45/7   144/22  189/29   1527/462  
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   --+--   86/18   51/27  137/45   1664/507  
1700Z    -       -       -       -     83/2    35/26  118/28   1782/535  
1800Z    -       -       -     34/18   45/21    5/4    84/43   1866/578   7  
1900Z    -       -       -    126/1    17/11    3/2   146/14   2012/592  
2000Z    -       -       -     47/12    6/4     8/6    61/22   2073/614  20  
2100Z    -       -       -      9/7    11/5    28/6    48/18   2121/632  
2200Z    -       -     14/11    3/4    16/8     9/7    42/30   2163/662  
2300Z   7/8     5/5    34/3     3/4     7/6     2/0    58/26   2221/688  
0000Z   2/1    11/5     7/1     3/3     4/1    --+--   27/11   2248/699  14
0100Z   4/2     8/3    16/3    15/3      -       -     43/11   2291/710  
0200Z   1/0     4/1    53/1     3/0      -       -     61/2    2352/712  
0300Z   2/1     7/0      -       -       -       -      9/1    2361/713  42
0400Z    -     10/0      -       -       -       -     10/0    2371/713  60
0500Z   1/1    12/2    80/1      -       -       -     93/4    2464/717  
0600Z   1/0     9/1    87/1     1/1      -       -     98/3    2562/720  
0700Z   1/1     4/0    89/0      -       -       -     94/1    2656/721  
0800Z  --+--    2/3    91/2     1/1    --+--   --+--   94/6    2750/727  
0900Z    -       -      1/0      -       -       -      1/0    2751/727  57
1000Z    -      1/0      -       -       -       -      1/0    2752/727  60
1100Z    -       -      6/1    37/3     7/2      -     50/6    2802/733  
1200Z    -       -       -     16/0    42/5    21/15   79/20   2881/753  
1300Z    -       -       -       -     79/5   110/2   189/7    3070/760  
1400Z    -       -       -      1/2     8/8   169/4   178/14   3248/774  
1500Z    -       -       -      1/0    15/1   120/7   136/8    3384/782  
1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   35/9     7/0    75/2   117/11   3501/793  
1700Z    -       -       -    118/3     3/1     5/1   126/5    3627/798  
1800Z    -       -       -     45/1    23/1    20/1    88/3    3715/801   7
1900Z    -       -       -     58/0     8/0    10/0    76/0    3791/801  
2000Z    -       -      4/0    42/1    16/1     8/0    70/2    3861/803  
2100Z    -       -     20/0     7/0     9/0    15/0    51/0    3912/803  
2200Z    -       -     63/3     8/0     8/1      -     79/4    3991/807  
2300Z    -      6/0    13/0    31/2     7/1     1/1    58/4    4049/811  

Totals:48/44  197/96 1128/162 845/178 975/177 856/154

Best 60 minutes: 220 starting 29-Nov-2025 13:08

Worked on 6 bands (26):

4U1UN 5J1DX 8P5A 9A1A CR3A CR3W CR6K DF0HQ EI7M HQ9X KH6J LZ5R NP3Y OL3A P44W PJ2T TK0C TO7A V26K V47T VA2WA VE2IM VE7UF VP9I ZF1A ZF5T

Worked on 5 bands: 70

Most worked entities

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total
    DL       2     14    157    105    122    135     535
     I             11     61     61     47     45     225
     F              4     48     39     40     64     195
     G       1      9     41     38     48     42     179
    OK       1      7     48     32     34     28     150
    EA              7     36     34     27     43     147
    UA              4     54     16     60     12     146
    VE      13     16     36     39     26     12     142
    SP              4     44     26     38     25     137
    PA              3     28     27     34     36     128
    S5       2      9     36     19     18     20     104
    HA              7     41     16     22     17     103
...
    JA                    14     15     36      5      70

Tower Raising

July 23, 2025 K5ZD w8

June, 2025

I had no trouble putting up the first 10′ of tower and stringing the temporary guy wires. The challenge was going to be finding some helpers to work on the ground, doing the hard work of waiting and pulling.

On one of the Q5 Contest Crew episodes, I was reporting on the station building progress and mentioned that I needed to find some ground crew. I was pleasantly surprised when several people contacted me to offer their help. The big break happened the week before Field Day when I was introduced to Mike WA3C via Contest Crew fan Tom KF8AVC. Mike has a multi-tower station of his own, considerable tower experience, and lives just 45 minutes away. He very generously offered to come over and help.

In addition to his experience and time, he also brought the tool that made everything possible. A Capstan winch that could bolt to his truck. This winch enabled us to do the work with just the two of us.

July 1, 2025

I know I have all the parts to build the station – I just have to find them and then modify things to fit the new situation. Today was guy wire day. I unrolled the Phillystran to know what I had and then started reworking the steel guy wires and insulators.

I chose guy wire lengths based on an NCJ article by N2IC. His analysis recommended lengths of less than 11′ or very
narrow guy-wire windows at approximately 28 and 41 feet. I wanted Phillystran down to about the 30′ level, then an 11′ section, and then 28′ sections as needed.

July 7, 2025

Mike arrived for our first session about 8 am on a morning that was boiling, humid, and calm. You could see the moisture in the pasture, and it was stifling as the sun warmed the air and pulled humidity up from the grass.

We started with the South tower. It was to be 70′ with guy wires at 34′ and 68′. It was a smooth process to rig the gin pole, pull up a section, bolt it on, and then repeat. We were ready for the first guy set after only 90 minutes of work.

Mike introduced me to a clever way of installing the guy wires. He had three come-alongs so we could get each line tensioned before attaching it to the turnbuckle. (I had always done it by moving from guy anchor to anchor, tensioning each until everything was straight.)

It was great to step back and see some progress.

It was now almost 1 pm, and the heat was wearing on us. I normally do well with heat, but it was oppressive when working at ground level on the guy attachments. I decided I had had enough, and we called it a day.

July 10, 2025

We were back at it on a still warm and humid, but more cloudy morning a few days later. With just two of us, there aren’t many photos of the work in progress. I did grab this one as Mike was wrapping the rope on the winch to pull up a section.

By 11:15 am, we had all the sections up and the second set of guy wires attached. Mike brought his Loos tension gauge so we could check the tensions. He also brought his transit. The result was a tower that felt very solid and was truly vertical!

We added the top plate and called it a day at around 1 pm. I was thrilled to have this tower fully up in just two mornings of work.

July 16, 2025

The heat and humidity finally broke, and we had a beautiful day to start work on the North tower. This one was to be 80′ with guy wires at 39′ and 78′.

We were getting pretty good at this and had the tower with the first set of guys up by 1 pm.

This tower will feature a 2-element 40m Moxon and a 5-element 20m Yagi antenna. Even with just two sections above the first guy point, I could feel things were wobbly. After a bit of thinking, it just seemed like it would be a risk to try to do this with only 2 guy sets. I had everything I needed to add another set, so I decided to rework things to have 3 guys at 25′, 52′, and 78′.

July 22, 2025

I was able to install the guy bracket at 50′ and loosely attach the guy set.

July 23, 2025

Mike arrived around 8 am, and I explained the change of plans for guying. I installed a guy bracket at 25′. We tightened the new set at 50′. That enabled me to remove the set at 35′ and move it down to the new bracket.

The bracket at 35′ could now move up to 78′ after two more sections were added. By 12:30 p.m., we had the tower fully up and guyed.

I had the C31xr assembled at the base of the other tower, and a Cushcraft A3WS 12/17m antenna was also ready to go. Given the power of the Capstan winch, I asked Mike if he was game to make an attempt to raise antennas to the top of the south tower. He agreed, and we set a date.

If one tower is good, then two have to be better!

Antenna Takedown – Part 1

Antenna Takedown – Part 2

Antenna Takedown – Part 3

Antenna Takedown – Part 4

Construction Begins – Holes and Concrete

Building the “Shack”

Antenna Takedown – Completed

Moving Days

Adding 220V

Tower Raising

Adding 220V

June 27, 2025 K5ZD w8

The building chosen for the shack only had 120V service served by a single 20A breaker. I wanted 220V service to power the amplifiers. The closest access to 220V came from the nearby barn building, which had a 100A service panel.

A local contractor advertised on Facebook that his electrician was finishing a job and had a few days available. I contacted him, and they were able to start within a few days.

To keep costs down, I had them focus on installing a new panel in the shack and getting power to it from the barn.

The complexity in getting power out of the barn and over to the garage. This involved digging a trench, running conduit under a porch, and punching through the walls of each building.

They made good progress and had most of the work done within a day.

The barn side has a 60A breaker feeding the run to the barn. The shack has a small electrical panel with two 220V circuits (20A each), multiple circuits for the shack and garage, and room for expansion. They also added ground rods and grounding for the shack panel. The existing 120V circuit coming from the house was capped off and will not be used.

Once that was done, I was able to do the shack wiring myself. Even though the electricians weren’t keen on surface wiring (they would have preferred putting everything in conduit), I kind of liked saving money and retaining the ability to easily make changes later if needed.

I chose LED lighting fixtures that let me adjust the brightness and color warmth, as I wasn’t sure what the room would need. Might still be some room for improvement in this area once I start spending long operating sessions in contests.

Antenna Takedown – Part 1

Antenna Takedown – Part 2

Antenna Takedown – Part 3

Antenna Takedown – Part 4

Construction Begins – Holes and Concrete

Building the “Shack”

Antenna Takedown – Completed

Moving Days

Adding 220V

Tower Raising

Moving Days

May 20, 2025 K5ZD w8

The new location is on the way to the Dayton Hamvention, so that offered a great opportunity to combine moving with some fun. Mark KW1X agreed to make the trip with me and his help with loading, driving, and unloading was invaluable!

Monday May 12

We picked up a 26′ U-Haul truck at about 9 am. This thing was huge! I had followed the advice of my neighbor, who suggested it was always better to have too much room than not enough. This proved to be good advice!

We loaded as many boxes as possible into the attic area above the cab and then proceeded to the tower sections. Five sections fit perfectly across. And Rohn 25 sections fit neatly inside Rohn 45. One nice thing about the big truck is that it had a 20′ bed so the longest steel mast could sit directly on the floor.

From here on, it was just a matter of carrying things and finding a place for them to land.

Once all the towers, antennas, and feedlines were onboard, we filled the remainder with household items and furniture. It took from 9:30 am to around 4 pm to get everything in.

We still had some space, but I didn’t want to just run around the house throwing things in at the last minute. Plus, we had had enough of being movers…

Tuesday May 13

After a good night’s sleep, Mark was back at 6 am, and we headed out. It is 625 miles from Uxbridge, MA to Belmont, OH. We passed through 6 states and only had to stop at one weigh station. Mark volunteered to drive the truck, and I had the luxury of driving my car.

The weather was good most of the way, and it was just a matter of working around the number of large trucks that fill the major east-west Interstates. We stopped for lunch and gas breaks. We arrived in the late afternoon around 5:30 pm. Mark was glad to get out of the truck!

We were too tired to do any unloading and headed out to a local diner for dinner.

Wednesday March 14

No fun to open the truck door and see all the stuff we had to carry and find a place for. Fortunately, unloading is always faster than loading.

We also had a convenient building to unload all the radio stuff into.

When I first looked at this house, I remember wondering what I would ever do with all of this garage space! What a silly thought.

Around 11 am, just as Mark and I were getting tired and looking at a large pile of tower sections and aluminum that needed to be moved, we had some visitors. Martin AA1ON was driving from Boston to Dayton and had two passengers riding along with him – Fred K1VR and Zoli HA1AG. They arrived at the perfect time, and we put them to work.

In an hour, we had made great progress.

We all went back to the local diner for lunch, and our visiting workers continued their trip to Dayton.

We spent the afternoon cleaning out and returning the truck. And moving some furniture and unpacking things inside.

Thursday May 14

I spent the morning assembling the desks in the new radio room and unpacking some of the radio paraphernalia.

It was amazing how much the grass had grown in the 4 weeks since the concrete work was done. What used to be a clear field was now 3′ high grass that was hard to walk through and hid all the guy anchors from view.

We headed out on our 3-hour drive to Xenia around noon.

The Hamvention was its usual blur of conversations, meetings, forums, flea market walks, and late nights.

Sunday May 18

Mark needed to get home on Monday. We decided there was no reason to detour back by the house. So it was a straight 800+ mile drive back to MA. We both agreed we had had enough driving for one week. I slept most of the first 18 hours I was back home!

It was kind of hard to believe that I would be back in the car 5 days later, driving out to K3LR for the WPX CW contest.

Antenna Takedown – Part 1

Antenna Takedown – Part 2

Antenna Takedown – Part 3

Antenna Takedown – Part 4

Construction Begins – Holes and Concrete

Building the “Shack”

Antenna Takedown – Completed

Moving Days

Adding 220V

Tower Raising

Antenna Takedown – Completed

April 30, 2025 K5ZD w8

I returned from Ohio on Tuesday, April 8. There were still a lot of antennas, cables, and tower sections that needed to come down the hill.

There was one antenna remaining; the C31xr at 40′. I kept this one for last so I could still make a few QSOs. The CQMM contest on April 12 and 13 included the final QSOs from the station.

April 16-19, 2025

Some of the Rohn 45G sections from Tower 1 were starting to show their age, with some rust in places. With the towers on the ground and moving day still a month away, it was the perfect time to do preventative maintenance. I took advantage of a few warm days to paint some of the sections.

I purchased some ZRC 10002 Cold Galvanizing Compound from Amazon. It was almost $70 for one quart! Decided to use a brush to paint with, so I would maximize the use of this precious resource.

I had a lot of time to think during this process. I finally decided the appropriate word to describe painting a tower is “tedious.”

April 23, 2025

I spent some time hauling all the tower sections from Tower 1 down the hill, as well as rolling up all the guy wires.

I also got the temporary guy wires ready so we could move quickly when the team arrives tomorrow.

April 24, 2025

The tower crew of Mark KW1X, Martin AA1ON, and John N1PGA arrived around 10:30 am. It was a beautiful sunny day that was the perfect temperature for working outside. The bugs were starting to make an appearance, so we were very glad we had done so much of the work in March.

The C31xr is a big antenna with 14 elements and weighs almost 90 pounds. I removed the elements on each side of the boom-to-mast clamp to make some extra space. This also resulted in the antenna being very balanced, which made it easier to corkscrew around the one set of guy wires. All hands were busy, so no pictures were taken during the lowering.

It took just under 2 hours to get things rigged up and the antenna on the ground.

After the C31xr, the 5-element 6-meter beam was trivial! Although it did require me to stand on the top of the tower to reach it.

We removed the mast and the rotator and then started unstacking the tower.

This tower has a pier pin base, so it was necessary to rig some temporary guy wires before removing the set at 35′. This tower had been guyed to trees. What seemed like a good idea 30 years ago now presents some challenges.

Two of the 3 trees had died (probably from the stress). One of those was a hardwood and wasn’t going anywhere. The second was a pine tree that may have only had a few years until failure. The third tree was a larger pine that had grown around the cable holding the turnbuckle! It had grown so much that there was no way to get the turnbuckle out!

The temp guys were installed, two sections were removed, and we just had to lift the final section off the pier pin. The entire project was done around 3:30 pm. We headed off to lunch.

I returned later in the afternoon and started the disassembly of the C31xr.

Everything is now on the ground, and K5ZD/1 is off the air.

The antenna and tower staging are now almost complete.

The next task is to finish packing up the inside. It is amazing how much stuff is accumulated over the years!

Antenna Takedown – Part 1

Antenna Takedown – Part 2

Antenna Takedown – Part 3

Antenna Takedown – Part 4

Construction Begins – Holes and Concrete

Building the “Shack”

Antenna Takedown – Completed

Moving Days

Adding 220V

Tower Raising

Building the “Shack”

April 11, 2025 K5ZD w8

One of the features of the new QTH was the presence of several other buildings away from the house. One was an extra deep detached garage, and the other was a large building that looked like a house but had been used as a barn. Both had electricity and access to water but no plumbing. The main house had a very nice basement, but there were no windows to the outside and no soundproofing to the main living areas. My wife ran a strong campaign for me to build my radio room in one of the outbuildings.

I decided to use the detached garage. The main reasons were that it was closer to the house, didn’t smell like horses, and already had a mini-split heating and air conditioner installed. The disadvantage was that it did not have 220V, but there was a path to solving that issue.

The garage was deep enough that I could create a 9.5′ x 16.5′ room and still get my car in the garage. It also had one window, but there was room to add two more. They would look east toward the sunrise and let me see the towers.

I shared this drawing with multiple contractors that I had found on Facebook. Chris Lovell won the project by saying he and his son could start on it immediately.

April 4, 2025

Work began on adding the wall to the garage.

April 5, 2025

The walls inside of the garage were some kind of rough plywood over Sheetrock. I decided to maintain that theme since it would be less expensive, and I would be able to nail things into the wall anywhere I wanted. As the wall and door were installed, it started to feel like a proper room.

April 6-7, 2025

My original thought had been to add two more windows that were the same size and style as the one that was already there. There must be some kind of a window supply chain issue, as the contractor had trouble even finding windows in stock nearby. The first set he found were smaller. That didn’t work at all since I wanted to be able to look out at the hills, sunrise, and towers. I suggested we go with something bigger ($$). He located two that were about 25% taller.

When he cut the wall out to install the windows, we discovered there was no plywood on the outside of the walls. It was just a vapor barrier. That required another change order to remove the siding and add some plywood.

The bigger windows turned out great for adding both light and a view.

April 10, 2025

A simple dryer vent was added to a corner of the back wall to facilitate the entrance of the coax and control cables. He installed it a bit lower than I had specified, but it will work.

The garage remodeling was completed, and I am very satisfied with the result. Just need some carpet so I can operate while barefoot.

The next project will be to get 220V into the building, add an electrical sub panel, and then put all the necessary outlets on the walls.

Combined with the tower concrete project that was running in parallel, this was a great week of progress!

Antenna Takedown – Part 1

Antenna Takedown – Part 2

Antenna Takedown – Part 3

Antenna Takedown – Part 4

Construction Begins – Holes and Concrete

Building the “Shack”

Antenna Takedown – Completed

Moving Days

Adding 220V

Tower Raising

Construction Begins – Holes and Concrete

April 11, 2025 K5ZD w8

March 31, 2025

I arrived at the house in Ohio after a two-hour drive from K3LR, following the CQ WPX SSB contest. The weather was good, so I headed out to the field to finalize the location of the towers.

I spent some time in the preceding weeks with a plot plan and the HFTA (terrain analysis) software to determine what antenna heights might be the most advantageous. (That will be another blog post.) I decided that two 80-foot towers should be sufficient, but I wanted the guy anchors out far enough that I could go to 100 feet later if needed.

I spent a lot of time tramping around the field with a tape measure, some posts stuck in the ground, and some string.

I started by hammering in a post at the proposed tower base locations. Then, I measured 80′ in three directions to estimate the probable anchor locations. The last step was to run a string from the base post to each anchor point. It eventually resulted in the strings being 120 degrees apart.

I then marked the size of each hole using some bright orange paint.

The base holes were to be 3′ x 3′ square and 4′ deep. The anchor holes were 3′ x 4′ by 4′ deep. All of them ended up slightly bigger during the digging process.

April 1, 2025

I had found a contractor on Facebook who was available to dig the holes. We agreed on Tuesday, April 1, as the day. That turned out to be the best day of the week as far as the weather. It was sunny and springtime warm.

The holes showed about 6 inches of rich black topsoil on top of a very firm clay. After years of dealing with the rocky soil in New England, it was amazing to see so much digging and only a few rocks!

He had all 8 holes dug in about 3 hours! It was well worth the expense.

April 2, 2025

The next day, the weather started to turn. It rained almost non-stop overnight. I came out to find all but one of the holes filled with water.

Because of the clay, the water did not drain out either. It just stayed there. How does 3″ of rain fill a 4′ deep hole?! Runoff from higher on the hill…

The guy I bought the house from stopped by. As we were talking, he mentioned there was a spring on the property next door. “Really?” I asked. We walked down into the pasture, and one guy anchor hole was right in line with the runoff from the spring. Argh! I had been wondering why the water in that hole had been so clear.

More water was flowing down the hill so I did my best to cut a trench and divert it away from the hole.

I can’t believe I did not notice any water in this area during the survey and hole marking. I don’t think it will be a problem, but I could have easily reoriented the guy points to avoid this area.

April 3-4, 2025

In the weeks before, I had identified several concrete contractors on Facebook and contacted them. I sent them the Rohn drawings and some text of what I was looking for. Once the holes were dug, they each came by to look over the job. I think they were all a bit curious about my unusual project.

I had considered doing the concrete myself, but the number of holes, the distance from the mixer, and the amount of concrete for each hole would have made that impossible. Once again, for speed and access to materials, it was worth it to hire professionals.

I told the contractors that I would like to get the job done while I was in town, but would drive back from Boston if needed. Only one contractor said they could move some jobs around and accommodate my schedule.

They did ask for extra money to pump out the holes. Anything to avoid the 10-hour drive each way!

April 7, 2025

Jason and his team from Stone Brick Construction showed up on Monday to pump out the holes.

With the water mostly removed, we could see how much cave-ins and erosion into the holes had occurred.

I donned my waterproof boots and waded into some of the holes to muck them out. The composition of the clay was amazing. It was super sticky and yet acted like quicksand. I would put my foot down, thinking that the sediment should only be 6 inches deep, and my foot would keep sinking. At times, it was almost impossible to pull my boot out of the mud. The clay would stick to the shovel, so getting it out of the hole was not easy. Once I thought I had done enough in a hole, I had to find a way to get out. There were a few times when I thought I might have to call someone to come pull me up!

This photo does not do justice to how messy and difficult the bottom of the holes were!

April 8, 2025

The rain had stopped, but the temperature had really dropped. It was about 25 degrees Fahrenheit at sunrise! Brrr. The Stone Brick team had said they would be back today to do the forms. They arrived about 9 am and had things ready by 11:30 or so. They called the cement company, and 45 minutes later, it was time to pour!

The key to this job was the buggy. It took a lot of trips from the truck to fill the holes. Even with that, it still took more than 2 hours to get everything filled.

It was above freezing by the time the truck had arrived, and it turned out to be a perfect day for working outdoors.

The final step was setting the pier pin for each base.

We confirmed that all the guy anchors were aligned and pointing at the pin for their respective bases. Job done!

April 9, 2025

Stone Brick returned in the afternoon to get their forms. The suggestion had been to wait a few days before doing the backfill of the holes.

With the amount of water that was filling up the “spring” anchor hole and the forecast for a lot more rain, I decided to backfill that one. Once again, the wet clay presented a challenge. It didn’t help that the backhoe operator had left the pile about 5 feet from the hole…

The rest of them will have to wait for the next trip.

When I arrived 9 days earlier, I never expected to accomplish completion of the concrete portion of the tower construction. Nothing to do now but give it 30 days or so to cure.

Antenna Takedown – Part 1

Antenna Takedown – Part 2

Antenna Takedown – Part 3

Antenna Takedown – Part 4

Construction Begins – Holes and Concrete

Building the “Shack”

Antenna Takedown – Completed

Moving Days

Adding 220V

Tower Raising

Antenna Takedown – Part 4

March 24, 2025 K5ZD w8

March 18, 2025

After a day of rain, it was time to get back to work. Three 40-meter beams on the ground in the backyard are an embarrassment of riches. I started with the one that had been up 32 years. This antenna had all of the W6QHS modifications and was very stout. The only issue with the antenna over time was with the feed point… and when lightning destroyed one of the loading coils. It needed to be broken down into the shortest possible pieces so it could be shipped down to V44KAI in St. Kitts.

The center joints of the two elements were not going to come apart. With a lot of hammering, I got the boom apart in the middle.

The original Cushcraft hardware was showing its age.

March 21, 2025

Another day, another 40-2CD to take apart. This one had only been up for 2 years and came apart very easily.

More cable rolling. I had not fully appreciated how many coax and control cables were heading up the hill. The pile of aluminum and wire continued to grow.

I also spent some time tensioning the temporary guy wires at 10′.

March 22, 2025

Saturday morning was another perfect weather day. Mark KW1X and Martin AA1ON arrived before 9 am. The first order of business was to finish tower #2. We positioned the gin pole.

I came down and we then loosened the remaining set of guy wires. With a little help from the tower jack, the sections came apart easily and were soon on the ground. We had a 10′ tower with a 12′ steel mast inside.

Other than being heavy, the mast did not present much of a problem. With it out of the way, we could lift the section and base plate off the pier pin. Mission accomplished!

The total work time from 40′ to zero, including some work on the temporary guys, was 1 hour 30 minutes.

We moved on quickly to tower #1. It was still at 60′ with two sets of guys. The wind came up a bit, with a few gusts, but not really a factor with just the tower to work on. We installed the temporary guys that had been moved from the other tower.

Once again, there is nothing like that feeling of being 4 sections above the last guy wire.

This tower had been up for 32 years. The Rohn galvanized nuts and bolts usually came apart without issue. There were a few sections where the bolt holes were not perfectly aligned and required a few hits with a wrench to remove. We needed the tower jack to help free every section.

Removing guy wire wires had one small surprise. These anchor points were all above grade 32 years ago. Now the bottom bolt required some hand digging to access.

We had a decision to make when we reached the section with the guy wires at 29′. The steel mast was 20′ long. We did not have enough manpower to lift it out of the tower. Do we stop and wait for another day? I used the ‘phone a local’ option and texted N1PGA to see if he was available. He showed up 30 minutes later just as we were at the 20′ level.

We needed him for the next task! We put a U-clamp around the mast at the 11′ level. The gin pole pulley could get to 10′ above the tower. The ground crew lifted the mast until there was no more rope available between the pulley and the clamp. The mast was still more than a foot inside the tower. With some maneuvering, I was able to guide the mast through a gap in the side of the tower. It slid through and the mast was on the ground. Whew!

We lifted the bottom section and plate off the base. Another bittersweet moment (for me).

Thanks to John N1PGA for coming over to help us finish the job!

It was now around 3:30 pm. A lot had been accomplished and we happily headed to lunch at the local drive-in.

I came back later and started carrying things down from the tower. There were guy wires, cables, and other bits and pieces that all needed to come down the hill.

When removing guy wires, I had been pulling them out of the guy brackets and then throwing them off the tower. I know this was probably not ideal, but I was aiming away from the rocks. As I was cleaning things up, I discovered this torque arm from one of the guys at 90′. I can’t imagine the forces needed to bend one of these. Lesson learned – don’t throw stuff you want to use again off the tower!