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

[Paul F. Merrill]

Speak now or forever hold your peace.  I am on Hector's schedule to begin
dismantling the station in a few weeks.  Prices have come down some.



On Mon, Sep 5, 2022 at 3:05 PM Paul F. Merrill <marinesvcs at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>
>