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 - 7:35pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 438 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:34pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 582 visits

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Uploaded on 09/15/2012 - 7:34pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 463 visits

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Uploaded on 09/13/2012 - 7:04pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 490 visits

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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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It looks like coax in this picture, but it is Phillystran, a non-conductive arimid fiber guy wire. Good for about 4,000 lbs pull.

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Uploaded on 09/13/2012 - 7:03pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 648 visits

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Uploaded on 09/13/2012 - 7:03pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 662 visits

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Uploaded on 09/13/2012 - 7:03pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 523 visits

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Uploaded on 09/13/2012 - 7:03pm by WA7DUH Steve St... 491 visits

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A view of the trench heading down to the ham shack. That white bottle in the picture is copper anti-seize/anti-corrosion goop that is used liberally on ALL copper-to-copper connections.

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Uploaded on 09/03/2012 - 6:27pm by admin 597 visits

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Uploaded on 09/03/2012 - 6:26pm by admin 462 visits

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Each of the 3 tower grounds are out abot 7 feet from each tower leg, with #4 solid copper and 1 1/2 inch copper strap back to the tower, over to the house electrical ground and down to the ham shack. Two inch rigid non-metal conduit is also buried in the trench to hold 4 runs of LMR-400 coax.

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Uploaded on 09/03/2012 - 6:26pm by admin 535 visits

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Driving those ground rods down at least 6 inches below grade with a power hammer.

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Uploaded on 09/03/2012 - 6:26pm by admin 547 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 479 visits

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Here is the house ground rod as we found it. It doesn't meet code. Only one ground was found or wired into the electrical panel, but code requires two, with at least 6ft separating them. The solid copper wire is also too small, and the one rod was not 6 inches below grade. So we fixed that up.

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Uploaded on 09/03/2012 - 6:26pm by admin 524 visits

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The #4 solid wire and the copper strap is also run to the house electrical ground and into the ham shack entrance.

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Uploaded on 09/03/2012 - 6:26pm by admin 732 visits

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Uploaded on 09/03/2012 - 6:26pm by admin 588 visits