In 2012, we moved from Iowa to Cumming Ga.  We found a house that allowed for the installation of a tower.  However, I had sold my 55 crank-up and so I had no tower to put up.  However, I found a 55-foot crank up on craigslist.  That is now standing and doing a great job.  The tower came with the tilt over mechanism.  I upgraded the winches and put new cables on the tower.

I have a 4 element SteppIR with 40 and 6 meters.  I love the SteppIR.  Unlike most users, I don’t track the antenna automatically with the radio.  I did that at first, but  I found that if I set it to certain points in the band I can get close to 1 to 1 across wide areas of the band.  In some cases it was as good as the TH11dx I used to use across the entire band.   I make the length changes manually.  This allows me to move around more and not have to wait for small changes.  

There is a N4ZZ tilt plate on the tower which makes lowering the SteppIR much easier to lower if it needs work.  No tall ladder needed.  

Below you can see the installation of the tower.  The septic field is in the back yard.  With that and the tall trees, there was only one place to put the tower. The SteppIR 4 element with 40 and 6 meters is a big antenna.   I am thankful that there was one place.  

Outside the Shack

I have a long wire I constructed for 75/80 meters.  It works reasonably okay.  

Inside the Shack

I have sold most of my equipment over the last few months.  The picture below is my new streamlined version of my station.  The vintage gear was great but hard to keep everything going.  I love the FTdx5000mp coupled with the VL 1000 it is a great operation.

Here is my shack now

Here is what it was before I started selling.