Antenna change over!

Success! The new Channel 3 antenna in place!

What a beautiful day for a helicopter and climbers to change out the WSTM Channel 3 TV antenna at Sentinel Heights. 

Today was the day! The helicopter and climbing crews arrived early for a pre-work review and safety meeting. By noon the climbers were in place and the helicopter had arrived. By 1pm the old antenna was removed and set on the ground. It took another 4-1/2 hours to remove the old mounting brackets, install the new mounting hardware and finally set the new antenna in place.

Watch it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFAnk75GS4c

Removing the old Batwing Antenna!

The old antenna that was installed in 2001 is being replaced as part of the FCC mandated television frequency repack  which is driving major changes to TV transmitters and antennas all over the country.

Read more about the project in our post from earlier this year : https://www.upstateham.com/2019/07/its-been-great-run.html

It's been a great run!

 Back on May 13^th 2012, CNY Hams had the opportunity to become part of a 6 meter repeater experiment. That was the day the KD2SL 53.67 mhz repeater came on the air with a unique antenna! The former Television Channel 3 Turnstile antenna (a casualty of the analog TV shutoff in 2009) had come back to life supporting amateur radio in Upstate NY. It was an interesting time on 6 meters as many of us played "can you hear me now" from various locations around CNY.

 Things changed this past week, (June 27^th, 2019), the 53.67 repeater was switched from the “Batwing” Turnstile TV antenna to a lower communications antenna mounted at approximately 700’. The change was necessitated by the FCC mandated television frequency repack (read more about the repack here: https://www.multichannel.com/news/fcc-frees-up-more-money-for-tv-station-repack  ) which is driving major changes to TV transmitters and antennas all over the country.

Receive only antennas

On the morning commute/coffee clutch this morning a few of us had an interesting conversation about receive only antennas. We talked about long random wires strung around the yard and maybe using a chain link fence to support a wire antenna. The topic of the tried and true Beverage antenna also came into the discussion. As we shared ideas I thought we ought to highlight some of  the places to find good information on various receive only antenna options here on UpstateHam.com.



Many of the HF rigs today have a separate receive only antenna port for this purpose. Seasoned DXers will tell you about some nice low noise performance with receive only antenna designs. Many of us also like to experiment with DC to daylight SDR receivers and any/ALL options for the best receive antennas to use with them. I did a brief search for some background and ideas for the best receiving antennas out there. In my search I found some very interesting articles and web pages. Here are a few on-line spots I found that you can start with:

WØBTU Beverage Receiving Antennas
How to build your own one- or two-wire Beverage antennas that work great.
link: http://www.w0btu.com/Beverage_antennas.html

W8JI Receive Antenna site link:
http://www.w8ji.com/receiving.htm

W8JI Beverage antenna info link:
http://www.w8ji.com/beverages.htm

VE6EY Bevearge antenna article:
http://play.fallows.ca/wp/radio/shortwave-radio/beverage-antenna-intercontinental-mw-listening/

DX Zone receiving antenna ideas/links:
https://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Antennas/Receiving/

W7VO Beverage Antenna link:
http://www.w7vo.com/beverage.html

Let us know about your favorite receive antenna at [email protected] or leave a comment here.

RARA Academy - Get the Most From Your Antenna Real Estate - 2/23

Antennas and Antenna Basics

Here are a few of the topics we will discuss:

•  Antenna Fundamentals

•  Horizontal vs. Vertical Polarization

•  NVIS vs. DX Antennas

•  Antenna Modeling Using 4NEC

•  Antenna Supports and Hardware

•  Feeding and Nurturing of an Antenna

•  Baluns and Transmatch

•  Grounds and Counterpoise

•  Restricted Space and Stealth Antennas

•  The UGLY HOA Dilemma

Latest Academy information is available at https://www.rochesterham.org/rara_academy.htm

Time and Location:   Saturday 2/23/19, 10am - noon

Session will be held at the Ogden Public Library, 269 Ogden Center Road @ Rt. 259, Spencerport, NY 14459. Note the location change!

You can sign up for Academy Workshops by emailing [email protected].

Please take advantage of the RaRa sponsored training and operating opportunities.

Timothy Brown,
FCC Callsign: WB2PAY
RaRa Education Coordinator

cell: 585 750 2087

email: [email protected]

email: [email protected]

LARC Bootcamp - Portable antennas for HF use

This October Bootcamp will cover the options for setting up a portable antenna for HF use. In case of
emergency, we are all ready to use VHF/UHF for disaster communications, but few of us are prepared to get an HF station on the air because few of us have an antenna option. There are several inexpensive options along with some commercial choices that will enable you to be an effective resource during an emergency. Come learn and enjoy yourself.

NORTH SYRACUSE COMMUNITY CENTER
Thursday, October 27th @ 6:15PM
prior to LARC monthly meeting