KC9VF 

kc9vf@arrl.net

192 Foot Vertical Antenna Project

 

This antenna is used on 160, 75, 40 and 20 meters.

The first three thumbnail photos show a "rat hole drilling rig." It has the capacity to drill a 40 inch hole 90 feet deep. For this antenna project, it drilled three holes 40 inches in diameter down 17 feet. These holes are for 3 elevated guy piers.

The next three photos show the lightning protection grounding system. This system consists of 4 twenty foot long copper pipes spaced 12 feet from the tower base pier. The grounding pipes are inserted into 4 inch holes 25 feet deep. This puts the copper grounding pipes into 12 feet of ground water. The four pipes are connected to the tower base with 4/0 copper cable. A layer of dirt and gravel will cover the grounding cables. The radial system will be laid out on the layer above the grounding cables. The copper ring around the base pedestal will be the common connection point for 72 radials.

The first 60 feet was erected followed by  the remaining 132 feet.

A crane arrived on December 17th 2003 to stack the remaining 132 feet on top of the standing 60 feet.  The  erected tower stands 199 feet 11 inches above ground to tip of air terminals.

Dec. 18th, 200 feet of 7/8 inch hard line is routed and connected.

December 19, 2003. With the help of WAÆZHH, a LC tank circuit match is hooked up and working. Reports from WÆVMC, WA1HLR, WAÆZHH, WD5BZO are that my signal is doing well.

The tower is series fed using a tuner which consists of 4 low pass L networks for 160, 75, 40 and 20 meters.  Included is a series trap to notch down a 1240 kHz broadcast station located about 4 miles away.  There are switching provisions for an additional band not yet decided.

The tuner is controlled from the ham shack computer as well as over the internet while operating remote control.

The meter is connected to a Bird line section  (50 watt slug) at the transmitter end of the transmission line and is used for tuning the L networks.

During storms or power outage, a large normally closed relay in the tuner cabinet shunts the tower to ground.  Also there is a spark gap at the base of the tower connected to the lightning ground system

 

Click On Thumbnails For Close Up View

rathole3.jpg (60772 bytes)
Drilling Hole For Number Two Guy Anchor
rathole1.jpg (176311 bytes)
Drilling Hole For Number One Guy Anchor
rathole2.jpg (128397 bytes)
Drilling Hole For Number One Guy Anchor
ground_rod1.jpg (118044 bytes)
Larry (K5LMW) Inserting Ground Rod
ground_rod2.jpg (105186 bytes)
20 Foot Ground Rod
ground_rod3.jpg (114097 bytes)
Lightning Grounding Cables
crane7.jpg (142300 bytes)
First Crane Operation
crane8.jpg (74142 bytes) crane9.jpg (77777 bytes)
Disconnecting Crane
crane10.jpg (169275 bytes)
Tensioning First Set of Guy Cables
1st_guy_section_b.jpg (103430 bytes)
Positioning Tower Sections For Assembly
weld.jpg (62704 bytes)
Painting Welded Joint
tuner1.jpg (157578 bytes)
Third Guy and Base Piers
base.jpg (145897 bytes)
L Network Tuner Cabinet
rod_insulators.jpg (87150 bytes)
First Set of Fiberglass Rod Insulators
trailer.jpg (172503 bytes)
Remaining Tower Sections To Be Erected
130_feet.jpg (116587 bytes)
Top 132 Feet of Tower Ready For Guy Wires
air_terminals.jpg (193986 bytes)
Air Terminals
minor_adjustment.jpg (144656 bytes)
Minor Adjustment!
Dec. 8, 2003
crane1.jpg (95947 bytes)
Dec. 17, 2003
Crane Arrives!
crane2.jpg (152715 bytes)
Crane Setting Up
crane3.jpg (152857 bytes)
Two Cranes Making Final Lift
crane4.jpg (177139 bytes)
132 Feet Now Lifted Vertical
crane5.jpg (138419 bytes)
132 Feet Set On Top Of Bottom 60 Feet
crane6.jpg (253120 bytes)
View Of Crane From 65 Feet Above Ground
crane7a.jpg (267111 bytes)
Bucket Truck Operator
crane8a.jpg (349058 bytes)
View From Bucket When Welding 60 Foot Tower Joint
tuner2.jpg (211522 bytes)
Spark gap and
feed connection
tower1.jpg (138375 bytes)
Guy wire support
tower2.jpg (75292 bytes)
View from the
ground up
tuner.jpg (249675 bytes)
Tuner
radials.jpg (140796 bytes)
Radials Before
 Rock Covering  
rainbow.jpg (87635 bytes)
April 1, 2006
After the Storm

1900 kHz Pattern 3880 kHz Pattern 7290 kHz Pattern

 

 

 

 

 

 

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