Station Design

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="WE3C Home Page"><U><B>WE3C.com</B></U></A><B>                                                                               </B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" ><B>                                                                                                                                                                                 </B>  </FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.arrl.org/hamradio.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.arrl.org/hamradio.html"><U>Learn about Amateur Radio</U></A>                                                                                                           <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A><B>  </B>                                                                                                                                    <A HREF="http://nist.time.gov/timezone.cgi?UTC/s/0/java" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://nist.time.gov/timezone.cgi?UTC/s/"><U>UTC</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Elmer"><U>Elmer</U></A>                                                                                                                                   <A HREF="http://www.weatherlink.com/user/we3c/index.php?view=summary&headers=0" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.weatherlink.com/user/we3c/ind"><U> WE3C Weather Station</U></A>                                                                                                                          <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="WE3C Home Page"><U>Home</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=15.625% BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Station</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Station Design"><U>Design</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id13.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="160M"><U>160M</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id14.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="80M"><U>80M</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="40M"><U>40M</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="20M"><U>20M</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="15M"><U>15M</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="10M"><U>10M</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="RX Antennas"><U>RX Antennas</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>Resources</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.phillystran.com/spec_f.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.phillystran.com/spec_f.htm"><U>Phillystran</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.radiancorp.com/ROHNNET/rohnnet2004/html2004/index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.radiancorp.com/ROHNNET/rohnne"><U>ROHN Towers</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.ticgen.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ticgen.com/"><U>TIC GEN Direct</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.xxtowers.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.xxtowers.com/"><U>XX Towers, Inc.</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFF99" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <B>STATION DESIGN</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The station was originally set up for single operator.  Over the years, it has evolved into a multi-op (M/2) design with primarily the major DX contests as the focus.  For several years, only SSB contests were operated as multi-op due to the greater challenge of inter station interference on CW.  In the fall of 2007, we began operating multi-op CW.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="770" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 270 WIDTH="396"><div> <B>Property</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The main property was purchased in late 1989.  The ownership chain goes back to the Penn family.  It is located on a Blue Mountain ridge that runs from Reading, PA northeast towards Allentown. Fleetwood is to the west and Oley to the east. There are three contiguous properties that total 55 acres. The highest elevation is 950' ASL to the west and it slopes to a low of 740' to the east.</B></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="0776cf40.jpg" border=0 width="364" height="244" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Looking NE from top of High Tower</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 383 WIDTH="396"><div> <B>Shack</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The shack is located in the "Barn".  The Barn being originally a functioning barn many years ago.  It appears that the real barn either burned down or was removed.  The stone foundation is original.   On it a newer frame structure was built that was used for a business.  After purchasing the property, and over the years, the Barn was modernized with steel siding, the truck dock and door improved and the entire interior was finished.  Also, an inside set of steps was added.  The main upper floor is now a combination shack, recreation room, exercise room and second living quarters.  There are two bedrooms (one is called the "Wire room"), a bathroom, shower and kitchenette adjacent to the shack area.  Three banks of five windows were added to the main area to add light and improve the views.  Substantial stone work and restoration has been performed.</B></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0796efa0.jpg" border=0 width="366" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Barn from top of the High Tower</B></div> <div> <B>(Top 20M director too)</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 298 WIDTH="396"><bR> <div> <B>Towers</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>There are two towers, currently the "High Tower" is 183' and the "Low Tower" is 160'.  Both are Rohn 55G and have star guy systems at key levels.  The towers are 155' apart and are oriented north to south of each other.  This allows a clear path to Europe and east beam headings without the antennas shooting into the other tower.  The High Tower has 80M on the top and 20M and 15M stacks side mounted with TIC rings on all antennas.  The Low Tower has 40M on the top and the 10M stack below, all on TIC rings.</B></div> <bR> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0756e000.jpg" border=0 width="366" height="256" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Aerial Photo looking East (NN3Q)</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 318 WIDTH="396"><bR> <div> <B>Guying</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Both towers have Phillystran guys in the near field of the antennas and steel guys on the bottom at the anchors.  Original construction utilized steel guys on the High Tower.  After using the system for one year, it was determined that with the multiple bands on the tower, the steel guys were interacting with the antennas and the tower was changed over to Phillystran.  This improved the nested stack performance and dramatically reduced inter station interference.</B></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><bR> <div> <IMG SRC="07c6c140.jpg" border=0 width="364" height="276" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Guy System on High Tower</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>