Topband: Fw: Modeling the proverbial "vertical on a beach"

[Guy Olinger K2AV]

You would certainly be correct about the exposure.

The site of the N4A Core Banks experience I related no longer exists
in the same configuration.

In 2011, Hurricane Irene removed 350 feet depth of shore line, moving
the shoreline 350 feet west by northwest. So the then first 350 feet
of walking back from the then water's edge is now under water.  The
two tiny cabins we used (shack and sleeping) have been pulled down,
with the sand there showing clear evidence of routine over-wash in the
time since Irene.  Aerial photography right after the storm showed
that sand had filled the 4 foot underwash space below "our" cabins
right up to the top of the stairs leading to the screened porch. Later
that year W0UCE and I went out there and measured the changes with a
tape measure to see if the site was still usable for us. There was no
longer room for the guy ropes for our support poles, given the stretch
of sand traversed by vehicles going up and down the beach, and the
usual clutter of tents on the western side of the traverse. The two
cabins didn't last until the next IOTA anyway.

What was it about building one's house on sand?  :>)

All this would be a limiting consideration in any siting of station
buildings and permanent antenna structures near or actually at water's
edge. One NC lighthouse, famously, had to be moved back from the ever
westward march of east coast US beaches. Atlantic shore resort areas
are losing out. The Atlantic's recurrent insistence at creating a
major inlet to Pamlico Sound at Rodanthe, NC probably cannot be
resisted, and a couple of movie-famous structures are doomed. NC
highway 12 is consistently undermined by the westward moving erosion
from hurricanes, even those passing well out to sea. Continuing to
repair it at state expense has become controversial.

N4AF, out in eastern NC in south-side Beaufort county, about 25 miles
inland from Pamlico Sound, has been brushed or just plain hit by eight
hurricanes and one tornado. "Hurricane Alley" is a most apt
nomenclature for those regions.

Exposure, indeed.

73, Guy K2AV

On Fri, Aug 15, 2014 at 11:23 AM, Charlie <charlie-cunningham at nc.rr.com> wrote:
> As long as this thread had been going on - perhaps  I should be down
> shopping for real estate on the Outer Banks - but then I'd be more exposed
> to hurricanes, washed-out roads and lost power!