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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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:34pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 507 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:34pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 506 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:36pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 504 visits

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

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:59am by WA7DUH Steve St... 501 visits

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:00am by WA7DUH Steve St... 499 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... 499 visits

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:57am by WA7DUH Steve St... 499 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... 496 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... 496 visits

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 10:59am by WA7DUH Steve St... 495 visits

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Uploaded on 09/13/2012 - 7:04pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 495 visits

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Uploaded on 09/13/2012 - 7:03pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 494 visits

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:04am by WA7DUH Steve St... 489 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... 489 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... 488 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:35pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 486 visits

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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... 485 visits

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#4 solid copper over to the house electrical entrance ground. Found more irrigation, Spinkler valve control cable (run in water pipe PVC) and some Romex (indoor only) that the previous owner had run to some outdoor lights. Gotta fix all that.

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Uploaded on 09/03/2012 - 6:26pm by admin 484 visits

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Dave W7DJE helps measure out an element tube. These nesting tubes are pulled out, and the ends are trimmed to length with a hacksaw.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:01am by WA7DUH Steve St... 481 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:35pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 480 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:35pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 479 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... 477 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... 477 visits

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Both the EHU and Element Return fixture must be leveled, then torqued to specifications.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:00am by WA7DUH Steve St... 476 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... 476 visits

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:01am by WA7DUH Steve St... 475 visits

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:03am by WA7DUH Steve St... 471 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... 470 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:34pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 468 visits

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Uploaded on 09/03/2012 - 6:26pm by admin 465 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... 459 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:34pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 458 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:35pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 455 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:35pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 448 visits

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All the cabling prior to clean up.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:01am by WA7DUH Steve St... 445 visits

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Distance between this driven element EHU and the element return fixture is critical. Houston, we have a problem. The driven element is centered on the mast, which means it will loop around the tower. This will cause great difficulty with the tower guy lines.

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Uploaded on 09/25/2012 - 11:00am by WA7DUH Steve St... 442 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:35pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 442 visits