[OKDXA] FREE Tower space, shack, electricity to hams

[William B. Stacy]

Hi, All:

I drove up to the site this morning.  It is 5.7 miles north of Bill's Corner
(US 64) on US 177 on the east side of the road.  The distance from 3rd
Avenue in Stillwater is 17.8 miles.

The facility is unused as of now and has a sale sign on it.  (One of the
local fellows told me a while back that it was for sale.)  The parking lot
is full of weeds, and there is nothing on the tower except for the strobe
beacon on the top.

The tower appears to be about 45 feet at the base and maybe 25 feet at the
top.  (These are precise measurements using my thumb and forefinger as a set
of dividers.)  There is a platform on the very top and another at the
225-foot level.  A third platform is at about the 125-foot level.

I took some pictures, and I will be happy to send them to anyone who wants
to see.  (Most list servers will allow attachments.)

To address Doug's question (sort of), I am not sure how much land actually
goes with the site.  A barbed wire fence goes around the immediate property,
and a security fence surrounds the tower base.

We could make a lazy vee array for 160.  My EZNEC model tells me this would
give as much as 8.2 dBi at 15 degrees peak radiation angle.  (Lahlum feed,
excellent ground.)  Of course, gain and radiation angle vary according to
ground quality, but I'm always an optimist.

The upper bands would call for fixed-direction antennas at appropriate
heights.  However, I am not sure how much interaction there would be from
the immense mass of metal in the tower and the work platforms.

I am still intrigued.  Of course, it takes me less than 15 minutes to drive
there from my QTH.

73,

Bill, N5TU


-----Original Message-----
From: okdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:okdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Charette Douglas
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2007 10:09 AM
To: okdxa at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: FW: [OKDXA] FREE Tower space, shack, electricity to hams

That was me that offered to climb that beast.  Ken, do you know if we can
lay radials?  This would make for a super 160m wire 4-square!  Also, how big
is the whole site?

73, Doug W5GA