Albums: WA7DUH And WB7CNV Tower Construction

WA7DUH And WB7CNV Tower Construction

Photo essay of tower project at the station of Linda WB7CNV and Steve WA7DUH. They live just outside of the Richland and West Richland city limits in Benton County. Project is to initially erect a 65 ft guyed tower, but to design it for 75 ft or higher. Benton County has an ordinance controlling "communications facilities" (BCC 11.65) which includes "communication towers and antennas." Many of the requirements are exempted for amateur radio towers and antennas not exceeding 65 ft.
138 images Submitted by WA7DUH Steve St... on Sat, 08/04/2012 - 11:19am

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Guy lines are Phillystran, a non-conductive arimid fiber. Cable grips are used for termination.

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Uploaded on 09/13/2012 - 7:03pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 528 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:36pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 499 visits

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Left To right: Gary W7TYQ (Yreka CA), Dave W7DJE (Florence, OR) and Steve WA7DUH install the rollers on the hazer. Gary and Dave drove up to help Steve & Linda put this antenna up on the tower.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:57am by WA7DUH Steve St... 552 visits

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:57am by WA7DUH Steve St... 495 visits

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Gary's (W7TYQ) dog Fritz watches the action from the deck.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:57am by WA7DUH Steve St... 466 visits

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This is Duffy, Dave's (W7DJE) dog.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:57am by WA7DUH Steve St... 493 visits

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Fritz loves to ride in the cart as Steve (WA7DUH) goes to the shop to pick up SteppIR antenna parts.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:57am by WA7DUH Steve St... 528 visits

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Hygain T2XD rotator mounted on the hazer.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:57am by WA7DUH Steve St... 482 visits

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Mast installed is 2 inch high strength galvanized steel about 8 feet long.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:57am by WA7DUH Steve St... 735 visits

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Drilling through mast for 3/8" bolt anti-rotation (no-slip).

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:57am by WA7DUH Steve St... 510 visits

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W7TYQ (Gary) tightens everything down after applying antiseize paste.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:57am by WA7DUH Steve St... 472 visits

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Fritz "I own this tractor. Let's go for a ride"

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:58am by WA7DUH Steve St... 491 visits

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Boom joiner on the SteppIR Dream Beam DB18E). Colored dots on the pieces helps the assembler to find and line up the proper pieces.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:58am by WA7DUH Steve St... 616 visits

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Dave W7DJE looks through the boxes for parts. Duffy helps.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:58am by WA7DUH Steve St... 502 visits

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How is this supposed to go???

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:58am by WA7DUH Steve St... 661 visits

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Let's break off some bolts with an air driven impact wrench. Luckily the manufacturer provided spares.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:58am by WA7DUH Steve St... 485 visits

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Boom now mounted on the mast, which is mounted on the hazer (antenna elevator) using the thrust bearing (on top) and the Hygain rotator. The antenna will be pushed closer to the top of the mast assembly is complete.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:58am by WA7DUH Steve St... 471 visits

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Steve is a slave driver. Time for lunch!

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:59am by WA7DUH Steve St... 470 visits

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Peter Rosenberg (AC7SB) from Fall City WA joins the antenna assembly team. Steve (WA7DUH), Peter and Gary (W7TYQ) apply anti-sieze compound to the staddles that will be used for one of the Return Element fixtures. Liberal use of anti-sieze compound is critical because of the many dissimilar metals used in both the antenna and hazer (aluminum, stainless steel hardware and galvanized steel.)

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:59am by WA7DUH Steve St... 453 visits

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Gary (W7TYQ) Dave (W7DJE) and Peter (AC7SB) attach the reflector Return Element Support to the boom.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:59am by WA7DUH Steve St... 503 visits

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The interior of a SteppIR Element Housing Unit (EHU) with stepper motor that drives copper-beryllium tapes in and out of the hollow antenna element tubes. The tapes are the radiating/active elements of the Yagi beam antenna. This SteppIR antenna is able to be resonant anywhere between 6.5 Mhz and 54 Mhz by adjusting the lengths of the Beryllium tapes. The tapes are wound on the spools that are seen in the picture using the cogged wheel that engage holes punched into the tapes. Cogged wheel is driven by a stepper motor, which has absolute positioning capability. The computerized controller knows how far to position out the tapes in the driver, reflector and director tubes for any given frequency.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:59am by WA7DUH Steve St... 493 visits

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Assembling an element housing unit (EHU) prior to installation.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:59am by WA7DUH Steve St... 510 visits

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Many parts to each unit..

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Steve WA7DUH; Peter's wife Tacy (on the end); Gary W7TYQ and Dave W7DJE trying to program a 2M handi-talkie; and Peter AC7SB.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:00am by WA7DUH Steve St... 479 visits

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:00am by WA7DUH Steve St... 493 visits

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The reflector EHU and element return fixture mounted on boom.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:00am by WA7DUH Steve St... 508 visits

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:00am by WA7DUH Steve St... 519 visits