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Club Station Update – Tower Removal Work Party

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 02/13/2020

As you may recall, the club experienced damage due to the tornado in Pinellas Park last week.

Club tower bent over from the tornado
Club tower bent over from the tornado

Dave KR4U, John KI4UIP, Pat AA0O and Billy KN4LUZ were on site to work on the project (The author arrives late so anyone was had already left, please accept my apology for the omission).

The tower was bent just above the first section nesting point. With the help of a crane secured by Pat AA0O, the tower was safely lowered on Thursday 2/13 along with the log periodic antenna. This is only the take down stage. The 40m antenna on the shipping container appears to be ok but the wire antennas that used the tower as a center support are also down. Click the video below to see the crane in action (video by Pat AA0O).

Billy KN4LUZ overlooking the Log Periodic [Photo by Pay AA0O]
Billy KN4LUZ overlooking the Log Periodic [Photo by Pay AA0O]
Crane getting setup to lift the tower.
Crane getting setup to lift the tower. [Photo by Pay AA0O]
The tower on the ground sans antenna. [Photo by Pay AA0O]
The tower on the ground sans antenna. [Photo by Pay AA0O]
You may have also heard that the DMI roof suffered some damage. Fortunately, that was not in the rear of the building so the club station did not experience any direct damage other than the tower. The server room did not experience any damage either.

As we are still in the dismantling stage, no plans have been made yet on repairing the equipment. No doubt the club officers will share that information. Stay tuned to the normal SPARC information channels (Web site, Daily Nets, etc).

Related Images:

Published in Antennas, Club Station and Station Building

Tom Schaefer NY4I
Tom Schaefer NY4I

Hello. I have been a member of SPARC on and off since 1992. I am the current president of the club. Formerly I was the Vice President under Ron KP2N and a board member for several years. I was heavily involved in the club station working with Ron KP2N, Dave KR4U and John KI4UIP. I was also a contributor to the SPARC Remote station which was used by several SPARC members to either augment their own stations or provide a station to use for those in HOAs or other living arrangements that kept them off of HF. We had quite a few users of the remote utilizing the RemoteHams software. I hope to strike a balance in SPARC between fostering operating skills, teaching new people about ham radio and also offer a great social experience to members that may just come to the meetings for camaraderie. As a general-purpose club, I believe SPARC can cater to all those aspects of our wonderful hobby. I hope you join me along the way...

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