A3S/A743 Refurbished - Rotating Once Again

A3S/A743 QRV @ 15m

Since I took it down back in October, the A3S/A743 is once again proudly back at the top of my tower. It's been something of a long ordeal.

Refurbishing the antenna was delayed when I had to wait eight weeks to get traps out of MFJ -- they, like many companies have been greatly affected by the Coronavirus. Indeed, their biggest problem is getting parts from their suppliers, who are likewise affected.

Even after getting the parts, I had a lot of trouble tuning the A3S somewhere close to the bands. That required a lot of jockeying on the tower. It did give me a lot of time at the top of the tower, something that is always a confidence-builder.

I had a little trouble with the rotator yesterday -- one of the connector lugs came off the pigtail. This meant that while the rotator was in place, it wouldn't turn. I was tired from the long climb yesterday, and fixed it today. 

The good news is the antenna seems to be working correctly. I haven't worked a lot with it, but I'm sure I'll get a chance during the RTTY Roundup this next weekend. 

Hopefully, this antenna should serve me well for many years to come -- the initial installation worked for over fifteen years. Fifteen more would be fine by me.

Next project will be to fix the WARC trap dipole and put it back up.