A little bit of video taken at the NCC summer 2017 picnic at K3LR. 4K Video captured by a DJI Phantom 3 quadcopter.
Very nice... I've never seen property like that (House, Barns, Garages, lawn) so well manicured!!! ...DOUG KD4MOJ
I've seen pictures of Tim's antenna farm before, but the drone aerial video is stunning. Oh sure the towers with all the stacked yagis are nice, but me, I would like someday to have that phased vertical array on the edge of the property. Oh well, back to reality (sigh).
Video is great! Station is incredible. But there are a few things that went through my mind as it watched it. 1. Multiple towers with power lines well within the tower fall radius. Nothing technically wrong with this. But it's something I've always tried to avoid. 2. Multiple towers within the fall radius of others properties and structures. Again, technically not an issue. Just best to avoid. Is all of this considered in the Homeowner's Insurance Policy? Another added cost to a big ham radio station? 3. Underground cabling losses, layout and cost considerations must be incredible. 4. Lightning and grounding considerations. Lots of copper! 5. Because of the size of the property there are a lot of other homes bordering the lot. RFI/EMI effects to them and from them. There are times I run LL in a standard city neighborhood without any problems to my neighbors. But keeping them out of my receiver can be much more difficult. 6. Must be a daily drop off and pickup location for FedEx and UPS. 7. One of my other nearly lifelong hobbies has been Automobile racing of different types, but mostly Drag Racing. A common observation amongst owners/drivers was that the faster a guy was, the more money he spent. The more money he spent on himself and his hobby, the more money he spent on his spouse to keep her happy. Not sayin' anything... just saying.... ever been to a race track? There's something too it! Not trying to be a butthead but these are the things that crossed my mind when I was watching the great video of this great station! Thanks, Ed WD4ED
Guyed towers rarely lay out flat during failure, they tend to come down on top of themselves... I could maybe sneak in an 80 meter 4 square ... I can put radials in the neighbors yard(I mow it...) I have a 100x150 foot lot...
Sometimes. But I wouldn't say rarely. I've actually done JAG investigations for government or government leased towers that had failed. It really all depends on the failure mode. Inside about half of the tower height and the odds go way up. Worst one I did was a complete and total structural failure due to fire. The tower and all of the feedlines were painted. There were structural reinforcements actively being welded to the tower at about the 1/3 level. During welding there was a small amount of slag that dropped to the lower levels of the tower. Attempts by poorly trained welding personnel to extinguish the fire with his drinking water bottle only made the situation worse. In just about the time required to get the welders off of the tower the fire had compromised the structural integrity of the tower. I didn't get to actually watch it go down but witnesses described it as "epic"! But I was there for the aftermath. That alone was mighty impressive. All of the time, effort and money put into the installation was a total loss. What didn't get twisted and crushed burned to nothing but ashes. Almost 3/4 of the tower was laid out straight on the ground.... well sort of straight! Luckily we, the federal government were leasing space on a tower owned by a large tower leasing company. It was expensive for all involved. The tower was about 400 feet if I remember correctly. I'm wondering if I still have the final investigation results and pictures somewhere. Funny thing about towers is that we don't hear about them failing very much. But they do fail. And it's never pretty. My background and where I've lived as a ham is probably why I see things like I mentioned. It's like the story of the Insurance Industry Risk Assessor that was afraid to leave the house! I've also spent all of my Ham Radio life in coastal North Carolina and Tidewater Virginia. Hurricanes and nor'easters have to be a big factor in a tower installation. Also because of where are located we don't get a lot of snow. But when we do it's big storm stuff. 1-2 feet of wet heavy snow. I admit, that I'm a little paranoid! But after you've been in a real hurricane and seen the local forests all matted down like wheat in a crop circle you get a feeling for mother nature's fury and how fecal matter can occur! I'm currently shopping for my final home. Property and space to do a real antenna farm is a major priority on the property checklist. The antenna farm in the video is only a pipedream! Did I miss how much property the antenna farm in the video is on? I'm gonna guess that's at least 15 acres or more.... 20....??? Thanks, Ed
I stick to shorter towers where I live, 35' is plenty. With winds that can top 95mph at least once a summer, and in winter can be 60mph+ fr 2-3 days at a time it beats the heck out of the tower if I go taller. I had a Wilson crank up that was 45 feet tall, after 4 years it would not retract and was bowed. All I had on it for a load was a 5 element 6m beam and 90% of the time the tower was cranked down half way... I had a friend bring in a bucket truck and we put a winch on it vertically to pull it down as tension was released off the other winch. Once down I was able to have a welding shop use a press and bend the main tube back straight. After that it was never cranked up, just the tower plus 10' of mast for height.
