[NLRS] 10GHz site in Elk River

[Doug Reed]

If you want to add another site to the north metro, try Elk River. I was up
there checking out a packet radio site and found it is excellent for 10GHz
too. You can easily see the buildings in downtown Mpls from the driveway at
about 133 degrees magnetic.. 

The details.....
Drive up Hwy 10 to Elk River. At the south side of town, exit and take Hwy
169 north four miles to County 33. (County 33 is 1 mile past the stop
lights at Menards.) Turn left (west) on County 33, go up the hill and turn
into the driveway at the first tower. The GPS coordinates are 45d20.6133m
North by 093d34.0307m West. 

The site is a VHF radio and microwave tower site. I do wonder if there
could be any interference but since we are several times higher in
frequency and down on the ground well out of the beam path, I wouldn't
expect it to be a problem. If you don't want to be in the driveway, you
loose about 5 feet of height from the roadway but you could probably pull
over and still work Mpls from there. The view toward Mpls is fairly open. 

This site has good views from about east to south. Since all I was
interested in was Mpls, I didn't look further. But there is another tower
about 1/4 mile west and it might have a better view south and might have a
view north and west as well. But I haven't been to that site so I can't say
for sure. 

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.