Amateur Radio Superstation - K3LR

I've driven by this several times on 80, and boy is it impressive from the outside. Thanks for the tour of the inside!

 

K3LR - a life well lived.

 

Tnx for the tour of the station, very impresive!

 

I will have to agree with you on that one.
Some folks have got more money than they've got sense.
A long time member of our radio club died a few years ago. His family asked us to sell his equipment.
When we appraised his equipment, the amount of money was off the scale.
Of course, that didn't hold a candle to this guy.

 

Very impressive. Both the station and his dedication/determination.

 

Antennas try to twist and tilt in the wind. That puts a lot of strain on the base where its is bolted to, or embedded in the concrete. If the tower comes to a point at the base, it forms a single point that can flex (albeit just a little bit). The result is less stress and strain at the concrete/steel interface. These tapered bottom pieces are not commonly seen in use by hams due to their high cost (tapered Rohn 25 base section is about $1,400), except when a surplus tower is being used. The tapered base also allows a single insulator to be used when the tower is an active antenna element (quarter wave vertical or etc.).


I drive past K3LR every year on the way to and from the Dayton Hamvetion. It's the highlight of the drive.

 

WOW! Nice set up

Feeling a little inadequate with my 10 watts and a G5RV Jr

 

I see the neighbors love his hobby. I thought my neighbors would complain about a hexbeam on a pushup mast - yikes!!!!

 

Last night I was thinking that WOW! it would be nice to have a super station like that of K3LR here near Calgary. Then the more I thought about it the more the idea seemed stupid. Multi-multi super stations are for winning contests and whats the most important factor for winning contests? Location, location, location! Calgary being literally in the auroral zone has a built in 3 to 30 db attenuator for any path over the pole. Where are most of the multipliers for DX contests, you guessed it over the pole. I could duplicate the K3LR station, man it with the best operators and still not be even close to compedative. Best to not even try! Think I'll just sell all my gear at the next swap meet in the fall. Fity one years wasted on a pipe dream.

 

......Man-o-man, what a great looking station! I very often get confused with Tim by other stations thinking that I am Tim. Of course my feeble station (wire @100 watts) does in no way compare to the great station that Tim operates. I have worked Tim once or twice over the years, but his signal always seems a little weak to me. I dunno, maybe he has too many antennas too close to each other. And then again maybe it's my location in the swamps of lower "Delawhere?". 73 Len, K3LRH

 

I've seen this station a number of times from I-80... Awesome!!! Almost snapped my neck doing a double-take when I 1st spotted it many years ago. Thanks for the close-up!

 

WOW! That is very cool indeed. Thanks for sharing.

 

No matter how much I water my antennas, I can't get them to grow like that...

73 John K7FD

 

Amazing installation, the shots from the quadcopter really put things in perspective. HF seems very well covered, how about a massive dish or two for the first EME - Earth, Mars, Earth?

 

Tim has done a great job with his station as have a number of big gun contest stations in the USA and around the world. I have probably the largest contest station in the PNW right next door (literally)--NK7U. It takes a ton of effort and even with scrounging a ton of $$$ to grow something like that. There was a time in my 56 years as a ham when I aspired to have a big contest station and actually got to the point of having 3 towers, monobanders, etc. Then I thought about my priorities and decided spending a lot of $$$ on a station that due to location would never be the #1 scoring station in the USA simply made no sense.

While I have done a lot of contesting and a whole lot of DX ing my very much downsized station is the source of a lot of enjoyment at an economic level that makes sense. I can still have fun contesting, work all the DX that is out there, and rag chew to my hearts content. Am I envious of K3LR's station? No. I'm glad he has it, and I'm glad I have mine. His serves his interests and mine serves mine.