Tower Project

My Tower Project

Goal

I am returning to amateur radio after a ten year hiatus. Having just moved into the east mountains out side of Albuquerque from North Dakota I was devastated to see almost no natural support for antennas. I am on a quest to provide adequate support for HF antennas from 40m thru 6m, and satellite (VHF/UHF/Microwave).

Recent News

2005/09/04 - Tower Acquired

After a 26 hour round trip from the home QTH to the Phoenix area I now have a Tri-Ex LM-354 crank-up tower waiting to be installed. Many thanks to Jerry Gooding, N4MQY, for parting with the tower and Michael Brininstool, KE5FBT, for providing the help, transportation, and good company during the long trip.

The tower came with the raising fixture, a Yaesu G-800DSX rotor, and a Cushcraft X7 20m-10m yagi.

Now to start the process to secure the county's blessing, excavate the base, and install the base and ground system. It would be nice to get all of this done before first snow, but that may be a challenge.

2005/07/05 - Missed opportunity

I'm seriously bummed after missing a sweet deal for a used HDX-555 for local pickup with raising stand and other accessories - only $500! I missed it by three or four hours. I would have saved well over $2500 over buying it new and having it shipped. It's enough to make me pay someone to kick me in the back side for a month of Sundays. My only consolation is that someone is benifitting from the deal - I hope they appreciate it. I wish I could find them and offer them a deal.

2005/05/21 - Scaling back a bit

After realizing that three sections of free standing Rohn 25G were not going to be enough to hold my 10sqft of wind load for the satellite array and the discovering cost of moving up to Rohn 45G, I have decided not to install a second tower for the satellite array. I will later explore using a Glen-Martin 9ft roof mounted tower with 18sqft of wind load. The cost of the 9ft tower and installation is considerablity cheaper than installing three sections of Rohn 45G and with more capacity.

2005/05/04 - Looking for source for Rohn 25G base drawings with New Mexico PE signatures.

The county wants drawings of the tower bases signed off by a professional engineer. US Tower was more than willing to supply the drawing with the proper PE signatures for NM - I am still waiting for them in the mail.

I now need base drawings for the Rohn 25G with NM PE signatures. If anyone knows where I can obtain such drawings and signatures please let me know (email pascal@pascal.org}.

2005/04/11 - Starting ball rolling for my own towers

Along with the construction of a new garage for our property I am having our contractor secure building permits for two towers. A 55' crank-up tower for HF, and a 30' Rohin G25 tower for the satellite array. The County has been very helpful so far and it looks like we will get the building permits without any hassels.

I have decided to go with a US Tower HDX-555 (55' crank-up) for the HF work. Gerry Smith, W6TER, and Micheal Stuart, AC5ZO, both responded to my request for help on the ABQHAM mail reflector and have provided quite abit of valueable information. I'll try to sum it up in the notes.

Micheal Brininstool took some pictures of Gerry's installation. I will try to get those uploaded.

2005/04/01 - New Mexico Supream Court rules in favor of W6TER

Gerry Smith, W6TER, announced on the ABQHAM email reflector that the NM Supream Court has ruled in his favor over the dispute between Bernalillo County and himself. This is great news for Hams in NM.

Congratulations, Gerry!

2004/03/04 - New Mexico county okays ham radio antenna ordinance

ARRL New Mexico Section Manager Bill Weatherford, KM5FT, reports that the Bernalillo County Commission has approved an antenna support structure height of up to 65 feet without special regulatory requirements. Structures from 66 to 100 feet would need a conditional use permit, and those taller than 100 feet would require a variance. The action came January 13 on a 4-1 vote. "This should, we hope, put an end to over 10 years of wrangling about towers in Bernalillo County," Weatherford said. "It also brings the county into line with the City of Albuquerque, which allows permissive use to 65 feet." Weatherford said it appeared the issue has been resolved for now. He credited Dave Fuller, WD7Z, who assembled a package of technical data for each commissioner and the county manager and met in person with three commissioners to discuss the subject. "Thanks to some well-prepared speakers at the county commission meeting able to skillfully and respectfully respond to questions from the commissioners, the Amateur Radio operators in Bernalillo County came out winners," he added.

(Reprinted from ARRL website - Dated 2004/01/28 - http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/28/1/?nc=1#New2)

Woot! - After reviewing W6TER's troubles with Bernalillo County, I am so glad to see some good news. I'm glad to see our community recognize the benifits and contributions of Amateur Radio and to be willing to work with Amateurs.

Notes:

• Gerry Smith, W6TER
• Micheal Stuart, AC5ZO

Links:

• NM Court of Appeals verdict against Gerald Smith, W6TER
  http://www.supremecourt.nm.org/opinions/VIEW/04ca-001.html