A Story about Antennas: The Beginning of the Antenna Farm

June 2001

A back hoe was used to excavate a 5 foot by 5 foot by 6 feet deep hole. This necessitated using a ladder to reach the bottom.

A rebar framework was installed...a few pounds of steel was needed to insure the integrity of the concrete structure.

Five yards of concrete were poured.

In June the temperature was over 88 (f) degrees. In two days the concrete was cured to begin erecting the tower.

With the base installed the main segments of the tower could be assembled.

Now things are moving right along...the tower is being raised from the horizontal to the vertical position. I can almost "hear" the DX in the air.

What a beautiful site...the tower is really vertical.

Next comes the re-assembling the Telrex beam. In 2001 the Telrex was only 23 years old...it is a 1978 model manufactured by Mike Ercolino.

With the beam assembled, it is now attached to the mast with the elements parallel to the ground. The longest element is 35 feet. Sufficient room did not allow the beam to be assembled with the boom in a vertical position. The tower was raised to the vertical position and the elements were rotated to the horizontal position from the top of the tower.

The DX is getting closer now...also I am closer to God up there.

What a beautiful sight...you have to LOVE a beam at 75 feet.

The Telrex beamed lived happily at 75 feet through wind, hail, and yes...even some snow and ice until April of 2006. A tornado came one quarter of a mile away. The aluminum tower folded at a rusty steel joint between two tower sizes with no drain hole. I oiled, greased, checked cables at least twice a year. I never noticed that one leg had no drain hole. 25 years of condensation rusted the joint which gave way under 90 mph wind.

April 2006 after a small tornado passed 300 meters away

Happily...this is not the end of the story...it is only a chapter in the "antenna story."

January 21, 2007

 The Heights aluminum tilt over crank up was rebuilt over several months using sections I purchased in

 Kentucky and in Florida. A machine shop did aluminum wielding and repaired the steel supports.

 I used more 26" sections and more 22" sections eliminating the 18" section to increase strength. The  

 tower is now capable of being 80 feet tall if cranked all the way up. Being conservative, I have it    

 cranked up to 75 feet. Below is the 4 element SteppIR with the 40 m dipole and 6 meter elements    

 assembled and bolted to the mast. The elements are parallel to the ground and will be rotated horizontal

 when the tower is cranked to the vertical position.

The tower is being cranked up with the 93 pound SteppIR bolted on the boom. I will crank

up the tower the next day. Yeah!

Oops, the next day is dark and rainy, but with all my careful pruning of the trees, I did NOT

get all the limbs out of the way.

            Here is Pedro who climbed in rain swinging from the tree on the left at 65 feet to cut the last limb

that was in the upward path of the reflector.

Pedro said, "Arriba, senior." He made certain the reflector the reflector clears the tree.

    The XYL anxiously wanted to know, "Is it up?" I think my gesture gave the answer!

A thing of beauty resides in the eye of the beholder, but did you ever see anything so beautiful?