[600MRG] Some advice needed...as usual

[John Langridge]

Hi Kenneth,

I am using a 54 gallon rubbermaid tub from Walmart.  It has a latching lid, which is important when it gets windy.

You can look at a lot of the larger rubbermaid products here:  http://www.rubbermaid.com/Category/Pages/SubCategoryLanding.aspx?SubcatId=Roughneck&CatName=Storage

I think you could make it all fit in one of these.  In my case, the motor for the vario is an antenna rotator and I have it outside of the box with a shaft that goes through a grommet into the box to turn the coil.  I had enough room looking back to put that rotator in my box but just left it outside.

My box has several coats of krylon as well as a UV protector... I don't know how these plastics will work in your persistent and extreme cold wx but down here in the heat they seem to work well and they are waterproof.

Another option that I considered before the rubbermaid tub was a sealing and locking patio garden tool box.  I think the big box home improvement stores carry these and they are basically the same size as the rubbermaid tube but has a hinged top that seals and locks.

I think I paid $25 for my rubbermaid tub and the garden tool box was over $150 for the cheap one..

I think the wooden box Mike mentioned is also good, especially if you can paint and seal it to prevent if from retaining water.

73 and good luck!

John XIQ




________________________________
 From: Kenneth G. Gordon <kgordon2006 at frontier.com>
To: 600MRG at w7ekb.com 
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 5:25 PM
Subject: [600MRG] Some advice needed...as usual
 

OK. I need to install a remote antenna tuner. The unit I am building 
is pretty big, but will do the job.

The advice I need from you kind folks is, what sort of container can 
you suggest that will be water-tight and yet easily opened to work 
in?

Some sort of plastic picnic basket or somethin' ?

To fill you in a little bit: The rotary coil I am using is out of the 
BC-939 antenna tuner that originally was part of the BC-610 
transmitting setup.

Since the coil is quite large and somewhat difficult to turn, I am 
using an old satellite TV dish mover and control to operate it.

There will also be two fairly large relays in the box.

The coil is 14" long, 9" wide and 8" high and has 1/2" thick ceramic 
end-plates. The satellite TV dish-mover has a gear-motor (with 
position sensors) that is 3" wide, 5" tall, and about 9" deep with 
the shaft sticking out of it.

So, overall length with the drive attached to the coil will be on the 
order of 23".

Ideas?

As soon as I can get my large base-loading coil finished (8" diameter 
PVC and about 600 mH), I'll need to be able to switch that into and 
out of the base of my 55' vertical.

I intend to use the BC-939 coil in series with the big coil to enable 
me to QSY a bit at 630 meters.

Ken W7EKB

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