As probably every Ham, I also dreamt about a nice mast with an antenna system. For a long time I was considering what mast to get and where to put it to get the best results. XYL had no objections. When I finally decided to install a 10 m long pneumatic mast in the attic of the garage (so that the…

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Once I successfully finished putting up the mast I had to think about the cable route between the mast and the hamshack. I looked up some information on the internet that described a set up similar to mine. I was especially concerned with how to ground the whole thing properly so as to avoid ground…

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The weather throughout the week was good so I prepared everything to put down the wiring. I had to attach a grounding box to the outside wall of the hamshack. This will contain grounding for all the cables before they enter the hamshack. I will also put the lightning arrester for the coaxial cable there.

I had to mount the box into the freshly made facade of the house so I had to work meticulously and in a partial concealment as to avoid any obvious markings. That's also why I didn’t take any pictures from this part of the process. However, you can see the results on the photos depicting the wiring.

During the weekend the weather was nice again so I was able to lay out all the cables in the garden and get them ready to be pulled into the cable duct. Browsing through various auctions and ads I managed to get the following cables:

• Cable SYKFY 20x2x0.5 for transfer of logical and low-voltage signals of measurement and regulation
• Cable UTP 4x2x0.5 for the computer network and possible IT components
• Cable YSLY 12x1.5 as power cable
• Cable Belden Holland 2000 for signal transmission

The above mentioned cables are in the bundle with two of UTP and YSLY cables. I originally wanted to add additional coaxial cable; however I couldn’t find any in length I needed and within my budget. If necessary I am able to pull in any additional cable into the bind later on, although that would require some work. I used a wider cable duct with the inside diameter of 50 mm so there is still some extra room left.

After I put down and straightened all the cables as well as the cable duct in the garden and tied them to the stretch cord I could start pulling them through the cable duct. Sadly, as there was no one to help me I had to manage the task by myself. I tied the end of the stretch cord to the fence pole and pulled the cables in by slowly pulling the cable duct. The more cables were already in the cable duct the more difficult the task became due to the increasing weight of the whole bundle (especially with the YSLY cables in). The pulling cord gave up 2 meters before the end and broke under the weight. I got a bit worried but luckily managed to catch the rest of the pulling cord by using a small metal hook. There was still enough of it left to carefully finish the remaining 2 meters of pulling.

After that work went quite fast. I lowered the cable duct with the bundle into the trench and on the hamshack side pulled in into the prepared grounding box. On the mast side I rolled up the cables and insulated the end against moisture by putting them into a plastic bag. I am going to put this end into the grounding box as well as soon as I get around to do it in the final stages.

The priority for now is to get rid of the trench as soon as possible so for the next few days my only tool of choice is going to be a shovel. After covering up the trench I will continue the work on the mast, which I am going to talk about next time.

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During the repair of the TRX210 Sněžka transceiver, which was entrusted to me by Luďek OK2KZ, I worked up a sweat diagnosing and repairing interesting fault. Since I could not find any mention of a similar problem on the Internet, I decided to write my anabasis on my blog. I've only noticed sighs…

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