Author Archives: timjneu

Locally here, we’re on a multi-day 90 degree or higher weather marathon. So what does that do to electronics, like Rasberry Pi devices in your outdoor tower trailers? Good question…. Well, our batteries are getting pretty well charged in the sun. This time of year, the solar panels can run mesh and small computers 24/7Continue reading “Baking Electronics”

When you get a tower trailer to use for ham radio, you’re going to get a lot of questions. The number of times most people see a construction tower set up with a Yagi, HF antenna, or some wi-fi dishes on it, are, in the experience of most people, exactly zero. They don’t notice people’sContinue reading “Signage – 15 pieces of “flair””

Lately I’ve been playing with the BM2 battery monitors, available on ebay and automotive shops for 20-30 dollars. They attach to the batteries, connect to your phone or PC over bluetooth and hold the voltage history for 30 days. In addition the software provides low voltage alarm notifications. There are other automotive testing functions asContinue reading “BM2 Battery monitors”

One of the things that would be quite useful would be the ability to transport an HF beam with one of these tower trailers so that you have something to put up when you get there. It appears to be possible but with a bit more assembly / disassembly required. HF beams can be prettyContinue reading “Hauling around an HF beam”

Well, it’s MN. So once the panels are covered with snow they do a lot less. During normal days I’ve left the mesh transceivers operating all the time counting on the sun to keep the batteries topped off. Sure enough the panels were putting out zero amps. When it gets cloudy and snowy too long,Continue reading “Snowlar Power”

Keeping your tower trailer painted will help it last longer and can make it look a lot better. Below is the J trailer, both before and after re-painting. A few words to the wise about painting these things. First of all, any of the lettering you see on the old trailers are generally provided byContinue reading “A little paint”

Well, bouncing around back in a trailer (or not!) it’s bound to happen eventually. Antenna radials can wiggle loose or get lost. My recommendation is to remove the radials and put them on when you get where they’re going. However, if you’re missing some – this is what I did. First choice would be toContinue reading “Antenna Radial blues…”

This weekend my tower trailer will be used in a simplex net to facilitate the 2020 ARRL simulated emergency test. In preparation I’ve removed and replaced the last commercial antenna on the trailer with a Tram 1480 (they were on sale). If you’re in the twin cities metro area; look for us on 146.550MHZ atContinue reading “Ready for the road”