A Field day ham radio style is used for the special callsign SX12ASTRO that will memorize and honours the 12th Annual Meeting of Greek Amateur Astronomers which will take place in Agrinio, West Greece on 13-15 of July, 2018. The meeting will take place in an area called Drymonas near Ancient Thermo, abt 40km from Agrinio.
SX12ASTRO will be active by members of RAAWG from 1-15 of July 2018. During the days 13-15 July, operation will take place from the place of the meeting, about 1200m (3600ft) high in the mountains!
The RAAWG team used a GLV-05 Galvanized Telescopic mast (8,5m high) to support a Cushcraft A3s with 40m kit. Nice job guys !!!
Kostas, SV1DPI, wrote a review in eHAM.net for the Telescopic mast
| Our club station SZ1A bought one 9m Telescopic mast (model GLV-05) since 2 years ago directly from Sotiris SV1BDO, owner of SILCOM Telescopic Masts & Antennas. We wanted a portable & telescopic tower-mast for our IOTA and Field Day operations and also something as a temporary support when servicing our antennas or trying a new antenna. We knew very well his high quality of workmanship, as he has built for us in the past almost all the monbander yagis that we use in SZ1A, based in YU7EF designs. His masts are very popular here in Greece, as many fellow hams use them since 10 years, instead of heavy and expensive towers. Some Greek hams have posted videos with their SILCOM masts under 100Km/h wind storms without problems. The mast arrived well packed. It is very easy to install by 2 people in less than 30 min. Retracted length is about 2,4m, and weight is 40 Kgr, so is possible to carry it on field on the roof bars of our car. All you have to do is to find the suitable place, secure the base on the ground and then properly guy and level the main body of the mast. Then using the hand winch our antennas stands on the maximum height in less than a minute. The installation completes when you tighten the guying ropes of the upper 2 levels. We are using a Yaesu G-800 Antenna rotor with the optional GC-038 pipe clamp, that fits into the upper section. An adaptor with 4 rings is placed exactly bellow the antenna rotor for the upper level of guying ropes. At 9m height, we are using a 5m radius for the guying ropes. Eventhough our antenna (Cushcaft A3s +40m kit) is big enough, the mast is always stable and stiif. We have never the feeling that something will go wrong. The complete mast is hot dip galvanized and wire ropes are INOX, so there is no issue with rust corrosion. As a final word, I recommend the SILCOM mast for its high quality, good performance and reasonable price. |