It was nice to see the stone lifted for the first time in years and a real effort by the others who failed to lift the stone this time.
Although The Stone only weighs 144 kilograms, it´s shape makes it difficult to lift.
Stan, SF7WT visited TF4M and used the great rhombics for a couple of days. Unfortunately there was a solar disturbance during his visit causing a massive Aurora and very poor propagation.
Stan is the author of the books ‘Thanks to Amateur Radio’ and ‘Amateur Radio gives you 2 Million Friends‘.
Polri is the national police of Indonesia. The photo was taken in early September 1999 near Viqueque, East Timor.
A few days later on the 7th of September I had the pleasure of attending a shooting incident against the UN HQ building in Baucau. I was in the building when a Militia member entered the building and cocked his weapon right in front of me. Afterwards the building was surrounded by Timorese Militia (Aitarak or MILISI) and Indonesian Police (POLRI) who proceeded to shoot into the building at waist level through the windows. A rather uncomfortable hour or so was spent lying on the floor watching bullets make tiny holes in the walls around me. One estimate was that 4000 rounds were fired.
This was rather intimidating and I suffered a loss of high frequency hearing as a result of the barrage and I remember thinking what on earth I was doing there. Ten days later I was among the first to return to East Timor and I am still wondering what was I thinking?
Among other things, I performed rigging duties during my service with the UN. These are photos taken in East Timor in 1999.
A few more huge insulators have found their way to my station. I expect to use them in my 160M transmitting antenna project.
One operating position is fully functional. The shack has 4 operating positions and each position can choose any available transmit antenna through a 100 kW Strip Line Matrix Switch remotely controlled.
The remaining tasks are to install panels at each operating position to plug in bandpass filters, install wiring for remote antenna switches and power combiners, install computers at positions C and D, wire up PTT control to the Strip Line Matrix switch (to prevent the possibility of hot-switching) and build an indicator panel for the switch.
I will now concentrate on the farm work until autumn before continuing with the project.
The open wire feeders are getting rather slack. This causes the wires to twist together during high winds. I had noticed a slightly higher SWR and some scratching noises while receiving on the USA Rhombic.
I had to examine the entire run of the antenna feeder and the antenna itself. Looking up into the bright sky is rather difficult for me due to the condition of my left eye after the accident, but with a good pair of binoculars it only took me about one hour to find and correct the problem.
I guess some maintenance is called for before winter…
Photos taken at 0100 after Midnight.
I have finished the Beverage antenna project for the time being.
I built 4 bi-directional Beverage antennas ranging from 170m to 380m long.
The antennas are connected into the radio shack via 5000 feet of RG-6 CATV cable entering via a patch panel and fed into a K9AY RAS8×2 matrix antenna switch which then feeds the 8 directions available into two transceivers.
The picture shows the center lines of the main lobe of each antenna direction. The lobes are quite broad especially on the lower frequencies, so I believe I have relatively good coverage.
A young seal sunning itself on the Otradalur beach was caught on camera.
The most beautiful place on this earth.
I have acquired a few rather large insulators. I believe I will use them for the 160M transmit antenna.
The insulator in the photos is 150cm long and weighs more than 30kg.
One operating position is ready – position B which has the control unit for all antennas. Some work remains, dressing cables, installing computers and building brackets for Bandpass Filters etc.
7 members of BMW Motorcycle Club Iceland visited the West Fjords over the weekend. I had the privilege of riding with them, and I am very proud to be a member of this fine club.
I was impressed with the fine riding skills displayed by the club members on wet and slippery gravel roads, at times I had trouble keeping up with them.
After reducing the tire pressure on my R1150GS to 15psi/front and 20psi/rear, the bike was literally glued to the road and I began feeling comfortable after this long forced abstinence from riding.
I have been unable to ride since the accident with my eye, but I need not worry, I am still capable of riding although I have to be careful with glare from the sun and oncoming vehicles in the dark.
On the first day of riding we went to the westernmost tip of Europe – Latrabjarg, where we had pizza with Puffin meat – delicious!
The second day, we rode on some of the worst dirt roads in the world until the road ended after crossing numerous unbridged rivers and we were unable to continue. I believe almost everyone on the trip managed to drop his bike at least once without any injuries.
I can see now that there is no need for any off road training area to be set up in my area, all we have to do is ride on our public roads which haven’t been improved for decades in this area.
A very hard day to say the least, but what a pleasure to be riding again.
I have installed ceiling lights in the shack. My idea is based on Open Wire feeders and is made with original hardware combined with a 12V light system made by IKEA.
Very cool, even if I say so myself 
I was burning some rubbish as usual and managed to set fire to the dry grass. I attacked the fire with my 8 tonne Backhoe Loader but tt soon became clear that I could not manage to put out the fire by myself and I called the fire brigade.
The fire brigade arrived in record time, about 10 minutes, I am very impressed and grateful for the quick response.
The damage is minimal, but could have been very great if the fire had gotten out of hand. 50 thousand saplings and 200 hektares of grassland were at risk.
I had a visit by Thor, TF3GW and Gudmundur, TF3GS, who were on an annual working trip around the country, they were shown all antennas and the new shack at TF4M.
The table is made from 4 desks bolted together and is covered with 1mm aluminum sheet. Later the aluminum sheet will be covered with a proper desktop surface.
The new shack is taking shape. The next step will be to build the 4 position operating table.
I attended the 11th IARU Region III Conference held in Darwin in August in my capacity of President of ETARA (East Timor Amateur Radio Association).
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