The End by Ben VA3BNY KWARC Tech Director

If you were to drive by the Baden Hill where the CKCO-TV tower stands, you will notice only one superstructure at the top of the hill. The old landmark standing there for years have fallen victim to the riggers cutting torch, after serving the community for half a century.

On November 27 of last year, on a early morning cloudy and windy day, the very top one third section of the original antenna, was cut off by riggers and lowered to the ground, signifying the beginning of the end. Weighing in excess of 2000 lbs., and showing signs of being hit by lightning many times, it eventually, was discarded to the scrap metal pile at the bottom of the hill. 

In the weeks to follow, the remainder of the tower structure was cut away piece by piece and added to the scrap pile. During the demolition, several additional guy wires were installed to temporary strengthen the structure and gin pole used to lower the sections.

The last piece of tower closest to the ground was removed using a 250-ft crane and lowered slowly to the ground.  In order to get this large crane to the top of the hill, the roadway was plowed of snow, and numerous bags of salt were used to melt the ice away. 

All that remains now at this site of the old tower structure are pictures and memories of where the clubs original antennas were mounted for many years. With now a single tower structure, all previous tenants have been accommodated on the single new tower. Our clubs repeater and packet antenna's can be seen from the road starting at the 250-ft level. 

At the ham shack, our feed lines were routed through a new opening and terminated just above the ham rack. waiting for new connectors to be installed. Through the generosity and our partnership with CKCO-TV, and the cooperation from the riggers, the club was very fortunate to be back on the air ahead of schedule. With the old tower now removed, our repeater antenna's now stand in free air space, and initial reports of signal coverage appear to exceed all previous expectations. (2103.jpg)

The only remaining task for the tech members to complete is to remove the temporary repeater antenna's that were mounted on the ham shack roof during the construction period.

Ben Sasiela VA3BNY
Technical Chairman KWARC