View looking towards top of tower.LOCAL TOWER COLLAPSES
Fellow radio enthusiasts;
On 19 April 2002 the 500 foot tower owned by Solid State Sonics and Electronics collapsed during the early morning wind storm. On this tower were various amateur (ham) radio antennas as well as commercial antennas. The amateur radio antennas were part of the local 2 meter VHF and UHF repeater system. This system allowed amateur radio volunteers to cover all of Shawnee County during severe weather or other emergency situations.
The amateur radio volunteers are your local storm spotters. They go out and blanket the county in an effort to alert the area to any deadly storms that might be heading into populated areas. This volunteers put there life on the line with out any pay or compensation. When not doing storm spotting the radio operators also assist the local emergency services with on scene communications. This assistance is usually required when looking for lost children, assisting with communications during large grass fires, assisting with parades , just to name a few things. We also support the Tin Man Triathlon, and the MS-150 Bicycle race, as well as escorting the Summer Olympic torch through the city on it's way to Atlanta. These repeaters also do a public service when ham radio operators are traveling through town, and need some road side assistance or need directions. Some times the assistance is just chatting with these travelers to keep them awake and alert while they are driving down the highway. Topeka Kansas had a reputation for the most friendly hams in the Midwest and the most helpful. We would like to regain that reputation, but we need help. We are soliciting donations from local amateur radio operators, businesses that listen to our storm nets on their scanners and other interested parties to help in this endeavor. We need to raise around 8000.00 dollars to put everything back on the air and get it back up to top performance. This will put all the repeaters back in operation and allow the volunteer much more dependable communication then they have now using the temporary system. If you can see your way clear to help with this endeavor it would be greatly appreciated. All donations are tax deductible and receipts will be given if asked for. Donations can be sent to the following address. Please make checks payable to the Kaw Valley Amateur Radio Club and mark them at the bottom as a donation to the repeater pool.
Thank you for your support. We are doing our part to make Topeka and Shawnee County a nice place to live and work.
Mail donations to:
KVARC
BOX 363
AUBURN KANSAS 66402
For more information you can contact the following radio operators:
Steve Carriger 232-0497 Solid State Sonics and Electronics
Steve Hamilton 267-6753 or kb0jyl@networksplus.net Volunteer
Jay Lutes 256-2272 Repeater trustee
SOME PICTURES OF THE TOWER
View looking towards top of tower.
View of the top of the tower.
Repeater building showing cables pulled through.
Base of tower.
Close up of the bend in the tower.
View of the destroyed antennas.
Another view of the repeater building.
Another view of the destroyed antennas.
UPDATE ON THE REPEATER RECONSTRUCTION
Most of the parts needed to replace the the damaged or destroyed repeater parts have been acquired thanks to a generous amateur radio operator. But we need to pay back this person for all the money he fronted the local repeater owners. New sites for the repeaters also have yet to be located.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PARTS LIST