This is the "WA7SVC" tower and beam. I inheritied this from Bill, WA7SVC when
he moved out of his house and needed to get rid of it. I still consider it his antenna,
I'm just borrowing it. Click here or on the photo to see the photo gallery of the raizing and raising project.
The tower is a Rohn 25G and originally had only one 10 foot base section and the top, so the antenna was only 26 feet in the air. I added another 10 foot section so it's now at 35 feet. It's set on a hinged base section going 3 feet into the ground anchored by 1,200 pounds of concrete.
The antenna is a HyGain TH3-Mk3 tribander with about 8 dB of gain. I rebuilt it completely with a "plastics" and "stainless steel" parts kit that HyGain (now owned by MFJ) still sells. So, it's a brand new antenna again.
The rotator is a Cornell Dubler Ham II unit, now marketed by Yeasu. I bought a Rotor-EZ kit from Idom Press and now the rotator is virtually a hands-off operation - I just set the direction point with the calibration knob, tap the brake switch, and off she goes. It even has a serial interface to operate it from my computer. A far cry from the original design that dates back to the 1960s!
Needless to say, this was a huge project, for me at least. I completed it on Labor Day, 2003 and it's my pride and joy now. Some my neighbors don't particularly like it, but unfortunately for them, it's been approved by the city and that 1,200 lbs of concrete just ain't gonna sprout legs and walk away.
That's my pwecious puppy Yuki at the bottom. She was very helpful in overseeing the project and making sure that all dropped doggie biscuits were cleaned up promptly.
This is a Comet GP-6 144/440 MHz vertical mounted on the old TV antenna mast on the chimney.
The mast also supports one corner of a wire loop and an amplified digital TV broadcast receiving antenna
(the little rectangular box right below the GP-6 base).
Crossing at the top of the photo is one leg of the 75 meter inverted vee.
If you look closely, you can see my other puppy Sachiko peeking out of the sliding door, wondering if she can come out and help me take photos.
Here's a look at the dual-band J-pole antenna that the
Vashon-Maury Island Radio Club
builds and sells at the local hamfests.
You can see the digital TV broadcast receiving antenna on the tower, where it was when I took this photo, and which is now on the chimney mast.
Also visible is the center support of the 75 meter inverted vee (note the balun) attached to the top of the telescoping mast.
And crossing on the right side of the photo is one leg of the wire loop antenna, heading over to the mast mounted on the chimney.
