Press "Enter" to skip to content

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 first joined SPARC in 1992 and then after returning in 2008, have been a continuous member--my first meeting was in 1981. I am the current president of the SPARC. Formerly I was the vice president under Ron KP2N and a board member for several years. I am a Life Member of the ARRL as well as a member of the ARRL Maxim Society. Additionally, I am a life member of AMSAT, a past-president and founding member of the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club, a member of the Clearwater Amateur Radio Club and a past-president and member of the Utah Amateur Radio Club. I hold 9 band DXCC covering 160 meters through 10 meters. I am also a member of the ARRL's A-1 Operator's Club. I mostly chase DX, POTA parks and dabble in contests both at home and with SPARC. I also work on the development of several amateur radio software projects including TR4W among other open source projects. I am a dyed in the wool Elecraft fan utilizing my K4D and KPA1500 for HF but also have more Icom radios than any one person should own. I also have a growing Begali key addiction that seems to keep growing.I also have a nice collection of older radios, Mac computers and HF 1500 watt amplifiers. Professionally, I own a software consulting company and have been involved in software development and IT continuous for the past 39 years.

More from AntennasMore posts in Antennas »
More from Club StationMore posts in Club Station »
More from Station BuildingMore posts in Station Building »
WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com