[SCCC] OT: Ham Home for Sale (KK6P)

[Paul F. Merrill]

So...we are considering selling our house in Paso Robles and I am throwing
this out there to see if there is any interest in the ham community.  We
have some flexibility in dates, but would need to be packed and out latest
March 1st, 2023.  We recently received a substantial unsolicited cash offer
and the deal only fell through due to a health setback for the buyer
shortly after we accepted their offer.  We are working with an agent but
are holding off listing the house due to a couple of other cash buyers
waiting in the wings.

We have extensively remodeled our home in Templeton, CA (CM95) and expanded
it to about 3900sf, including a small, attached and self-contained
apartment.  It's perfect for your semi-tolerable relatives or an AirBnB.
We have all new engineered oak flooring in the main house, walnut
butcherblock and French limestone in the kitchen, all-new Milgard windows
which are wildfire safe(r) and solid core doors throughout (Alder and
Fir.)  There are dozens of details, but just trying to give an idea or the
idea of the materials and finishes.  The house was retrofitted with
sprinklers throughout.  Anyway, it's pretty likely that your SpousalUnit™
would like it.

Ten acres.  1500sf Barn.  Ginormous pool.  I realize that this term may be
overused, but I assure you that your kids/grandkids, etc. will love you for
it.  Check out the satellite photo on Google Earth.  About 9kw DC of owned
solar with no RFI and 11kw propane standby generator.   Two 500 gallon
propane tanks.

Vineyards on two sides, so low fire risk.  Some big, beautiful trees
provide shade and do mitigate the previously-mentioned low fire risk, but
they're gorgeous. Tower-hating horse-property owner to the West, so at
least you are not going to be surprised.  We are 4 years into this, so he
is resigned to dying a bitter man.  The other neighbors don't care.  All
good people adjoining except for the A-hole.  The realization of me moving
and not taking down the towers alone may kill him.

Templeton Gap AVA and a billion dollar wine industry in the area...think
Napa 30 or 40 years ago.  40 minutes from the Coast and 35 or 40 minutes to
Costco and the San Luis Obispo airport.  20 minutes to Home Depot/Lowes or
downtown Paso.  Internet is by terrestrial Wi-Fi.  Meh...it's OK and good
enough to contest remotely but not much more than that.  about 20 down and
10 up for $125/mo.  Robbery.

Our contractor has been involved in the property and knows every inch of
the house.

Big projects left to do:
1) New siding on the south side of the 1500sf barn.
2) Finish landscaping.  Covid hit and my pay stopped just as we were going
to start this.  We have plans from a landscape architect we'll pass along.
3) Resurface the asphalt driveway.  We've lived with it for 10 years and
it's fully serviceable, just ugly.  No sense doing it until we had finished
the hardscaping and construction.

Little projects to do.
1) Plenty...just like any house
2) Hector and I think the balun on the 80m dipole is corked.  Fix or
replace.
3) There is high SWR on the MonstIR now but I think it's a bad connector
somewhere - I'm in KL7 still and can't diagnose.

The real meat and potatoes is the Station.  It is fully permitted by the
County and likely the last station in the region to get approval.
Engineered by Hank Longberg and erected by Kurt, Hector, and Paul Nyland in
the Spring of 2018.  Further over-the-counter permits ahould be simple for
additional 50' towers (VHF, EME, etc.) as per existing County regulations.
All engineered to Rev. G.  Most people will recognize my calls (W7IV/KK6P)
and you can look up my contesting history.  Being home during Covid allowed
me to push myself and the station hard to a number of #1 California wins,
and I just broke into the top ten nationall in SOHP WPX phone last Spring.
 The station is good, can be better and is a better station than I am a
contester ;-)   Station details from memory but give you a great idea of
what we're dealing with.

Tower 1:

Rohn 65g Rotating.
JK-801 rotable dipole with Tornado tuning unit at 165'.
4/4 404G Yagis at 75/154
3 JK Big-Tri Tribanders at 46/92/138
The top 40 and top Tribander are on rotating rings
Array Solutions switching.  Professional grounding and cable runs (K7PN
commercial standards.)
Three 3" and one 4" conduit.  Two 1-5/8 Heliax for 6m and triband stack.
One 7/8 heliax for top tribander.  Three 1/2 heliax for top 40m, 40m stack,
and 80m dipole.  Additional control lines and CAT6.

Tower 2:
US Tower HDX-689 with 24" 3" Mast
MonstIR 10-40 at 90'  I have the parts for the 80m dipole abomination, but
it is just as bad on 80 as it is on 6, so that's not a selling point.
EAntennas 7L 6m LFA at about 100'.   This thing kills and I won it at
Visalia which makes every new DXCC on 6 that much sweeter.
Optibeam 2L 80 at about 105'  This performs well even at this height and
has the added flexibility to be lowered on the crankup for domestic
contests.
Re-cabled by Nyland in 2018
One 4" conduit from Shack to tower base.  One 4" conduit with 2 7/8 heliax
runs for 6m and tribander and 1/2 heliax for 80m.  2 Belden 1077A for
control, stackmatches, preamps, etc.

Tower 3:
US Tower HDX-589
No antennas.  Meant to be the VHF tower.  Rotator plate drilled for T2X.
One 4" Conduit and Two 3" conduits.  Two 7/8 Heliax, Two LMR-1200, and One
1-5/8 Heliax run plus THHN for Elevation rotor power and 2 Belden 1077A
runs for control and relays, etc.

South Pasture:

One 3" conduit run for 80 and 160 TX 4SQ in the South ~6 acre pasture.
Four LMR 400 runs and some RG6 for RX andtennas and control and CAT6
cable.  The lot is 400' x 1000' more or less, so I figure there is plenty
of room for RX antennas and the TX 4SQ to have seperation there.


K7NV Prop pitches for the towers and rotating rings.
Over 1200' of 2AWG tinned copper grounding and 18 ground rods tying
everything together and leading to the Station ground.
About 1800' of underground conduit to the shack entrance and the tower
bases.
4O3A 4x16 switching matrix and HP filters for 10-40 and triplexer.  GH
RT-20/21 PP controllers from Kurt.

You will pretty much need 2 radios and a computer to be ready for SO2R

You can view the lay-of-the land on Google earth, QRZ, etc.

We're looking for about $2.1 million depending on the terms, timeframe, and
if we have to tackle any of the big projects listed above before the sale.
You can imagine that I have a lot invested in Engineering, permits,
consultants, aluminum, coax, and install.  We started with a 2100sf house
built in 1978, and Mission Creep is expensive.  We don't have another home
yet, so that will be a logistical challenge.  I have to come back to KL7 in
late April, so we'd have to close by March 1st or I will be dealing with a
divorce and losing the new house if I go off and leave the Wife with the
moving chores by herself.  If we get a serious cash offer in the meantime,
I suspect we will sell ASAP.

As we haven't listed the house yet, we don't have any fancy photos yet, but
my wife can do video walk-throughs by Zoom/Facetime or photograph for
anyone who is seriously interested.  Hector is on tap to tear down the
station if we end up selling to a civilian, but a local ham gave me hell
for not putting this out to other hams in CA first.

Please feel free to forward this info to any hams you may think are in the
market for a home/station.

Please feel free to contact me offline if you have any questions.



Thanks, Paul W7IV / KK6P