Putting up the new antenna mast at Kiwesi |
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On
Wednesday, December 14th, we bought guy wires and other
small items in town to set off early on Thursday ,to set
up the antenna mast on the Kiwesi Hill.
When we arrived at our watchman place, the work was carrying all the stuff up .We worked together for facilitation.It was such a difficult work.It reached a critical time when everyone wanted to get away from the work as possible.
Before we went up to the top on 2000m we ate soda and snacks to gain enough power for the climbing up with the heavy load under the tropic sun.
The bottom mast segments had been carried up already last time when we were there. This time there had been the four top sections; the antenna, antenna pipe, the pin stock and, the guy wires.
On th way we met the crew carrying the guy wire. The role had been much uncomfortable to carry. So we divided it into two halves without cutting the wire. Temba, our driver carried the 6m long pin stock, we used as crane.
When we arrived at the top, Macha, our welder, connected the first mast segments. After fixing them at the base, and putting the antenna pipe inside, every one had to pull hard to get it up. But with so many hands helping ,it was no longer a problem at all! Then we replaced the plastic ropes with guy wires. Using our "crane" we added one segment after another tying each one down with guy wires. Unfortunately some of the pipes were dirty with sand and paint inside.
We were glad, that we could finish setting up the antenna mast before it went dark. Because it is on top of the mountain it is much higher than all other antenna masts in Arusha. If you look areas as seen from the top of the mountain you can see very far. You can also spot the greenhouses for all the flowers beeing brought to the flower auction in Amsterdam!
We had to return to Arusha on Friday morning to finish our work. First we had to replace all the ropes by guy wires. Then we had to move the receiving and telemetry antennas. Finally we replaced the transmission cable by a long one, and also the antenna. It had been made of steel pipes because no Aluminum tubes were available at that time. Now we could push up the antenna another 6 metres with the antenna pipe, bringing it up to 30m now. But I tell you, it is getting quite windy up there!
We had a beautiful sunset after finished to fix the coaxial cables on the antenna mast. We were glad that many people can listen to our programmes much better especially during Christmas time, learning about Jesus coming on earth as a baby for their sake!
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