It has turned out to be a wet June so far and we had more heavy rain last night.  In spite of waking up during the night I was up at 7:30 AM and made coffee.  Everyone else got up as suited their level of rest and we sat around chatting for a while.  Ron put a load of laundry in the washing machine and then we sat down to a light breakfast.

Ron and Mary spent most of the rest of the morning repacking all of their stuff for the drive to northwest Illinois and their week-long bicycle ride.  FedEx Home Delivery delivered the Cyclo 5-Pro Mark II Dual Head Orbital Polisher I ordered along with all of the foam pads and detailing chemicals.

Ron retrieved their laundry from the dryer and after they finished packing we had a light lunch.  By 1 PM they were ready to load up the car so we helped get their bags out.  After a brief “farewell and safe travels” they were on their way.  They had a five hour drive but would gain an hour as they entered the Central Time Zone so they would be at their motel by 5 PM local time with plenty of daylight and time to eat dinner.

Linda took a short nap and then went for a walk.  I read through the manual for our SureCall Fusion5s cell phone booster and was part way through the manual for the Cyclo 5 when I decided to take a nap.  Linda returned from her walk and a little while later a USPS mail carrier delivered the OTA TV antenna I ordered from Antennas Direct.  All I am waiting for now is the cable entrance box I ordered from KF7P Metalwerks.

Once the cable entrance box arrives I will have a bit of a project.  First I will need to drill two 2″ holes through the east wall of the house and into the sump pump closet in the northeast corner of the basement, mount the box to the wall, and ground it to the outside ground rod by the tower.  I may also need to install additional ground rods.  I will then need to climb the tower by the house and do the following:

1. take down the old OTA TV antenna and rotator;
2. mount the new OTA TV antenna and aim it;
3. mount the amplifier for the OTA TV antenna;
4. attach a short piece of 75 Ohm co-ax from the antenna output to the amplifier input and weatherproof the connections;
5. attach a longer piece of 75 Ohm co-ax to the output of the amplifier and weatherproof the connection;
6. mount the outside antenna for the cell phone booster system;
7. attach one end of a 50′ piece of LMR-400 or RG-213 co-ax to the cell phone antenna and weatherproof it;
8. unmount our Diamond SG7900 2m/70cm ham radio base station antenna and remount it at the top of the tower;
9. attach a 50-to-60 foot length of LMR-400 or RG-213 co-ax to the ham radio antenna;
10. dress and secure all of the coaxial cables with plastic cable ties (zip ties).

Once I am done with tower work I will need to do the following to complete the installation:

1. install the lightning arrestors in the cable entrance box for the cell phone booster and OTA TV (?) co-ax cables;
2. route each of the co-ax cables into the bottom of the cable entrance box and attach them to appropriate lighting arrestors;
3. attach additional co-ax cables to the lightning arrestors and feed them through the 2″ holes into the basement;
4. mount the Surecall Fusion5s in the sump pump room and connect the co-ax for the outside antenna and the power supply;
5. run a 50′ length of LMR-400 from the sump pump room across the basement ceiling and up through an old vertical furnace exhaust chase to the attic;
6. drill a hole in the ceiling of the main floor hallway near the chase;
7. mount the inside done antenna for the cell phone booster system to the ceiling with the co-ax dongle in the attic;
8. connect the antenna dongle to the co-ax coming up from the basement;
9. run additional co-ax from the sump pump room to the ham shack;
10. run additional co-ax from the sump pump room to the video distribution point in the laundry room (or directly to the locations of the two TV sets);
11. turn on the Fusion5s booster (transceiver), adjust the gain (if needed) and test it with our phones and Mi-Fi;
12. test the TV sets (and hopefully not have to go back up the tower to reposition the antenna);
13. connect our Icom IC-7000 amateur radio and test the antenna connection.

As I wrote out this list it occurred to me that I need to make a list of all of the co-ax types/lengths/connectors I need and that, at a minimum, I probably need to order a length of LMR-400 orRG-213 co-ax cable and the proper N-connectors to complete the ham radio antenna connections.  It also occurred to me that I might be able to do some of the inside wiring while I am waiting for the cable entrance box to arrive.  Also, once the TVs are connected Linda can scan for channels and communicate with me with our HT ham radios if I need to change the aim of the antennas on the tower.

All of this reminded me that I need to follow-up with a Bratcher Electric on running a new 100 Amp main feed from the transfer switch to the panel in the furnace room in the garage.  I also need to order some new split foam fillers from Critter-Guard and new electrical hardware for connecting the bus to the toad from EZ-Connector in California.

I must have been sleeping lightly and dreamed all of these details because I got up from my nap around 5:30 PM, finished reading the manual for the Cyclo 5, and then took a shower and got dressed for dinner.  Barb Spera had called Linda yesterday to see if we were available for dinner this evening.  They had really enjoyed our meal at La Marsa in Brighton a couple of weeks ago and wanted to go again so we agreed to meet them there at 7 PM.  We did not have to wait for a table and our waiter, Najheem (Naa-gheem), was delightful.  Barbara had the Koshary again, and Chuck had the Chicken Shwarma with tabbouleh salad, while we split an order of spicy vegetarian ghallabah with rice and a salad.  I had a mango smoothie and we all enjoyed the swarm pocket bread and garlic spread.

It was after 9 PM when we got home and we headed off to bed at 10.  We knew Ron and Mary had arrived at their destination because Ron played a Scrabble word.  Linda had also checked that our daughter and son-in-law were on their way back from Las Vegas.