After a few days at SJ2W I went down to SK3W to help Gunnar (SG3P) out a few days to take down all but one antenna in one of his towers to fix them and put them up again. The 6el for 10m in the top was all OK but the 5/5/5el stack was missing some tips of the elements (one on each antenna) and there was water damage in the 5el for 20m. We had pretty good luck with the weather and lots of people came by to help, SM5TXT, SM0SVX and SM5IMO. Teemu, SM0W also came by to drink some beer the evening before we headed north again.
It all went well and we managed to take them all down, repair them and get them up again before we got some major rainy weather. The trip back up to SJ2W was interesting considering the huge thunderstorms and the rain that followed on the way up. We made a pit stop at SM3EVR and I got to meet him for the first time and he showed us his shack where all those QSOs have been worked from. We also made a stop at SM2UVU for a cup of coffee before driving the last 90km to SJ2W.
Up at SJ2W the plan was that we would repair the top 6el for 20m that the reflector broke on during the winter. We spent Monday building the new elements (changing all of them) and on Tuesday I climbed up and we hoisted the tram line and got stuff prepared to lower the 20m yagi. I also put some hose clamps around the 50mm tubing of the 40m yagi that had cracked. It hadn’t spread any longer in two years but just to be safe I put 6 clamps around it to make it stronger. I also straightened it out so now it looks pretty again. Later in the evening SM2XJP came by and helped so Gus went up the tower to release the beam and me and SM2XJP as ground crew lowered it safely to the ground.
On Wednesday we got lots of visitors. SM5EPO and SM3JBO showed up on their way up to Seskarö fieldday and spent a couple of nights @SJ2W and helped us out. It is always a blast to hang out with these guys, we have a lot of fun. Also later during the day some pretty “fresh” hams came by, SA2KNG, SA2BLV and SA2FDR. They helped out the whole day and we got the 20m yagi tuned and ready to be hoisted.
On Thursday the weather was bad and it was not until the evening we were able to hoist the beam and Gus went up the tower and attached it to the tower. He was too tired though after a couple of weeks of intensive climbing so I will need to go up later this week and take the tram line down. It turned out great though and now I hope the beam will last many more years.
On Friday we all went up to Seskarö fieldday where we met a bunch of other hams (over 70 people on the dinner) and I also had a presentation about SJ2W. SM2LIY had a presentation about propagation’s as well. The whole weekend was a blast!
Now I am spending a couple of days in Luleå gathering some motivation to go down and work on the station again. I have not decided yet what to do, but I might start building on the WARC beam, if the weather allows it.
