Mark-Rodgers

I have been looking all over the surrounding counties, talking to local farmers, asking them if I can use their grain silos for an antenna tower site for Ham Radio use.

I talked to one generous farmer, who instantly said YES to allowing me to use his site. I didnt even need to show him the paperwork with what I wanted to do and install. He is allowing me unrestricted access to the site and the “shack” at the bottom.

It is 90′ tall, with a ground elevation of 720′. It is located on a hill of aprox 60′, so the coverage is good. The grain leg has a ladder that goes up to 3 different levels,which 2 of them are easily usable.

So far I have just installed a VHF 5/8 wave mobile antenna at the top level with 120′ of RG-8 coax. Both will be upgraded later with better equipment. For now, they will serve their purpose for scanner feeds and a APRS receiver /iGate.

Almost every Ham Radio club has a 2meter repeater. Lots have 440 repeaters. Only some have a APRS digipeater. If they even do have a APRS  digipeater, its almost always an afterthought and not a great setup.Why is it that the repeater gets the nice 200+ foot tower location and the digi gets the mag mount stuck on someone’s mobile home roof?