Hello all,

I am beginning the process of searching for some land on which to build a
home. It will be located in the Pacific Northwest, in a fairly rural area.
I expect to indulge myself heavily in my radio hobbies, including ham radio
(especially on the HF bands) as well as a fair amount of Short Wave
Listening. I would like to solicit advice on how to evaluate a potential
location for quality of radio reception.

Aside from the obvious (i.e., a high elevation, away from high voltage power
lines, plenty of room for antennas, etc.), are there any other attributes I
should consider to ensure the location will be conducive to my radio
activities?

Dennis

On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 10:55:29 -0400, "Dennis Gibbs"
wrote:


Hello all,

I am beginning the process of searching for some land on which to build a
home. It will be located in the Pacific Northwest, in a fairly rural area.
I expect to indulge myself heavily in my radio hobbies, including ham radio
(especially on the HF bands) as well as a fair amount of Short Wave
Listening. I would like to solicit advice on how to evaluate a potential
location for quality of radio reception.

Aside from the obvious (i.e., a high elevation, away from high voltage power
lines, plenty of room for antennas, etc.), are there any other attributes I
should consider to ensure the location will be conducive to my radio
activities?

Dennis



Why just ''high voltage'' power lines? I'd avoid all power lines.

Yes, the single most important location for outstanding DX on LF, MW and HF
is to site yourself right on the beach.
Much discussion has taken place about the "ideal" DX site and there is
considerable consensus among serious DXer's that DXing on the waters edge at
the beachside gives a major boost to signals.

Good luck in finding the Holy Grail of DX sites
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
RX Drake R8B, SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D GE SRIII
BW XCR 30, Braun T1000, Sangean 818 & 803A.
Hallicrafters SX-100, Eddystone 940
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

"Dennis Gibbs" wrote in message
news:I%Sxe.52790$R21.3417@lakeread06...
Hello all,

I am beginning the process of searching for some land on which to build a
home. It will be located in the Pacific Northwest, in a fairly rural
area.
I expect to indulge myself heavily in my radio hobbies, including ham
radio
(especially on the HF bands) as well as a fair amount of Short Wave
Listening. I would like to solicit advice on how to evaluate a potential
location for quality of radio reception.

Aside from the obvious (i.e., a high elevation, away from high voltage
power
lines, plenty of room for antennas, etc.), are there any other attributes
I
should consider to ensure the location will be conducive to my radio
activities?

Dennis

On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 10:55:29 -0400, "Dennis Gibbs"
wrote:

Hello all,

I am beginning the process of searching for some land on which to build a
home. It will be located in the Pacific Northwest, in a fairly rural area.
I expect to indulge myself heavily in my radio hobbies, including ham radio
(especially on the HF bands) as well as a fair amount of Short Wave
Listening. I would like to solicit advice on how to evaluate a potential
location for quality of radio reception.

Aside from the obvious (i.e., a high elevation, away from high voltage power
lines, plenty of room for antennas, etc.), are there any other attributes I
should consider to ensure the location will be conducive to my radio
activities?

Dennis



First and formost I suggest you check out the noise level. Take a rig
with you and listen. There are probably several things on your list
but the noise level should be on top.

Good luck es 73

On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 17:21:29 +0200, "John Plimmer"
wrote:


Yes, the single most important location for outstanding DX on LF, MW and HF
is to site yourself right on the beach.
Much discussion has taken place about the "ideal" DX site and there is
considerable consensus among serious DXer's that DXing on the waters edge at
the beachside gives a major boost to signals.

Good luck in finding the Holy Grail of DX sites
Pacific Northwest is Tsunami Country. All the good cliffs are taken.

In article ,
David wrote:
On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 17:21:29 +0200, "John Plimmer"
wrote:


Yes, the single most important location for outstanding DX on LF, MW and HF
is to site yourself right on the beach.
Much discussion has taken place about the "ideal" DX site and there is
considerable consensus among serious DXer's that DXing on the waters edge at
the beachside gives a major boost to signals.

Good luck in finding the Holy Grail of DX sites

Pacific Northwest is Tsunami Country. All the good cliffs are taken.

No kidding. If Guy Atkins and his friends are out at Greylands when
The Big One hits, they'll be operating maritime mobile. It's a good 3-5
miles to high ground, according to my DeLorme state atlas.

Mark Zenier Washington State resident

David wrote:
Why just ''high voltage'' power lines? I'd avoid all power lines.

Hard to do inside a house with power lines. :-)
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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"Dennis Gibbs" wrote in message
news:I%Sxe.52790$R21.3417@lakeread06...
Hello all,

I am beginning the process of searching for some land on which to build a
home. It will be located in the Pacific Northwest, in a fairly rural
area.
I expect to indulge myself heavily in my radio hobbies, including ham
radio
(especially on the HF bands) as well as a fair amount of Short Wave
Listening. I would like to solicit advice on how to evaluate a potential
location for quality of radio reception.

Aside from the obvious (i.e., a high elevation, away from high voltage
power
lines, plenty of room for antennas, etc.), are there any other attributes
I
should consider to ensure the location will be conducive to my radio
activities?

Dennis




You need to drop by the local building codes office. Your home site will be
located in a county or inside a city or town limit. Rules vary from place
to place but every place has building codes and inspectors who inspect
construction to ensure the codes are enforced.

Code enforcement varies from place to place -- I built houses in West
Virginia, southwest Virginia, northeast Tennessee, and southeast Kentucky --
there were some counties where we never saw an inspector and the guy who
issued our building permit at the county courthouse could not even read
blueprint house plans -- but in other counties they inspected us at every
turn.

If you are building in the county -- outside city or town limits -- the
county will inspect you. If you are building inside a city or town limit,
their inspectors will inspect your construction or they may use the county
inspectors, or, your construction may be inspected by both county and
town/city.

You need to check with the inspector's office or whichever office issues
building permits to see if they enforce codes on towers and antennas. You
may find that you can put up any tower, any height, anywhere you want --
or -- you may find that putting up even the simplest antenna support will
require engineering drawings, environmental impact statement, and several
inspections. Remember, too, if you are in the flight path of an airport,
even a local grass strip, you will have height limits and lighting
requirements on towers.

Also, you are likely to be wiring your house for a ham station, which means
one room or one corner of the house will have several 110VAC outlets plus
one or more 220VAC outlets for linear(s). The electrical inspector will
find this strange and you need to talk with him BEFORE you even think about
building so you get him on board with you -- he will tell you what the codes
require so you don't have to rip out any wiring. Don't forget, too, that
you will need some way for cables to go out of the house to the antennas --
and anytime you poke a hole in a wall, the inspectors get nosy -- you will
need to ensure that the cable egress location has proper sealing, fire
blocking, insulation, etc. Also, you'll need to ground the station -- talk
to the inspector about that because he may look askance at a #4 copper wire
running to a ground rod in addition to the one required at the entrance
panel. Remember, too, when you start laying out your floor plan -- if you
have water (a sink) within a few feet of the ham station, the outlets may be
required to be GFCI protected -- and you don't want GFCI on your ham station
outlets because you will forever be tripping the GFCI and shutting off the
power -- so locate the ham station away from sinks and faucets.

Bottom line: Find your local building codes office and get to know them
LONG before you select a building site.


--

-----
Joe S.

Hi Dennis:

I would look into local Zoning laws to make sure someone won't build a
Power line / Station / ( etc) next to your home.

Hire an architect . Tell Him /her about what you want in the way of RF
free wiring; Heck, approach an architect / EE instuctor at a local
college & see if designing your RF free house electrical set up is a
possible project for a student....

Do site surveys, with some wide range receiver, looking for noise where
there should be none ( Consult radio Astronomers for this ?? )

Use a log book for problems / Pluses, then compare locations using a
spread sheet.


If your house is in a rural area, RF Free, it's going to ( Probably )
be good for Astronomy as well.. Walking around the Moon with a
telescope is always fun.


In closing, sounds like you have the world on a string; Congratulations
!!

Dan / NYC





Dennis Gibbs wrote:
Hello all,

I am beginning the process of searching for some land on which to build a
home. It will be located in the Pacific Northwest, in a fairly rural area.
I expect to indulge myself heavily in my radio hobbies, including ham radio
(especially on the HF bands) as well as a fair amount of Short Wave
Listening. I would like to solicit advice on how to evaluate a potential
location for quality of radio reception.

Aside from the obvious (i.e., a high elevation, away from high voltage power
lines, plenty of room for antennas, etc.), are there any other attributes I
should consider to ensure the location will be conducive to my radio
activities?

Dennis

"Mark Zenier" wrote in message
...
In article ,
David wrote:
On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 17:21:29 +0200, "John Plimmer"
wrote:


Yes, the single most important location for outstanding DX on LF, MW and
HF
is to site yourself right on the beach.
Much discussion has taken place about the "ideal" DX site and there is
considerable consensus among serious DXer's that DXing on the waters edge
at
the beachside gives a major boost to signals.

Good luck in finding the Holy Grail of DX sites

Pacific Northwest is Tsunami Country. All the good cliffs are taken.

No kidding. If Guy Atkins and his friends are out at Greylands when
The Big One hits, they'll be operating maritime mobile.

Sounds like a old-style long-board might be good for that maritime mobile!

--
Ed
WB6WSN
El Cajon, CA USA