Well, in keeping with the "Day late and Dollar Short" theme of my hunt
for someplace to put all my Radio Equipment, what follows are some pictures
of a retired Air Force Communications
Site. I had been driving by this site for about two years, and wondering
who owned it and if it MIGHT be available. I finally got off the "Dime"
and made some enquiries and found out that it was located in the Town of
Wheatfield, New York. Also that the property consists of 5.6
acres of land, and would make the Ideal Radio operators QTH.
There are (4) four 70 foot poles, guyed and with climbing
rungs for working on antennas. The poles are laid out in a square,
and there are 25 foot poles
in close proximity to them for securing feed-lines and tensioning lines
for the wire antennas. The driveway
is
approximately 1000 foot long, with a side pull off for vehicles to pass
while on it. The property also sports a 6
foot chain-link fence all the way around the place. There is
a stand alone garage,
and an outside fuel tank for emergency power. I had to get into this place
to see what the space inside looked like. Just the most Ideal
"Radio-Ranch", room for large wire antennas, oriented to the cardinal points
of the compass. Full size antennas with
open wire feed-lines running to the antenna tuner network.
This site is "Radio Quiet", I took the Drake TR-7A transceiver, set up
the Whip Antenna on the van and parked just
outside the fence entrance. I operated CW but I listened to all the bands
from 160 meters to 10 meters, and there
was no electrical noise, that is so prevalent in the city! Then I noticed
the Berm in a horshoe shape
directly in front of
the property with the open end towards the road, which has a tendency to
shield the site from road and ignition noises
great, just great. The site also has underground 3
phase power coming onto it.