This is the start of the work this area has to be cleaned up and leveled for the
foundation of the building. We had a little bit of luck there was a foundation of concrete
from the last owner, they just covered the slab of concrete.
In this photo you can see our neighbor the Gas Company site, but in the distance is
Roof Butte 100 miles away and line of sight. In the photo the west end of Farmington can be
seen. The Shiprock Pinnacle or peak located in Shiprock, New Mexico can also be seen behind
twin peaks in located Kirtland, New Mexico.
This is where the work begins we had to use 4x4 trucks to get the sand, Cement,
Building blocks and equipment to the top of the hill. In this photo D.W. Baxter, (KA5DVI) in the
foreground is talking to Norn Burrow, (N5SXP) and Jim Lesher, (WA7UKV) about the job I'm
sure. All this is going on while Kurt Hesselden, (N5SDQ) is stacking the cinder-blocks. Jim is a
school teacher in Red Mesa Arizona which is in the shadow of Roof Butte. His Wife Karen,
(WB7EEK) also teaches there. Norm Burrow is the city Tech for the traffic signals and radio
systems. D.W. is a Motorola trained tech that works on the oil fields data collection equipment
for Oil & Gas Equipment in Farmington.
The foundation was uncovered and the building begins. Kurt brought a friend from
work to help since he was a mason and his wife acted as his supervisor. Kurt is the head of the
computer department for Mesa Air Group (airlines) out of Farmington.
This the way a job is suppose to go, look at all the work that has been done already.
Actually the job took a couple weekends. Here the door frame was installed and the building is
going up around it. Norm, D.W., and Kurt ponder the work in this one. My new Nissan can be
seen in the background.
Dave Reed, (KB5SPW) and Ben are working on the roof of the building. I can't
believe we made a flat topped roof in the beginning. Later we put down tar paper sand and tar
but it still would leak. The problem was fixed later after a cap was put on the roof with a slight
sloop to it. The odd thing is that it hardly ever rains in Farmington but when it does it is a frog
choker coming all at once.
We put a steel door on the building to prevent any forced entry to the building.
Later I went up there with D.W. and we drilled holes in the ground and putting some 2" pipe for
fence post. I went back later and stretched the fence fabric and tied it up. The gates were then
installed later. The radio equipment was put in the following week and the system was up and
running. We maintained this site and expanded our radio equipment to also provide a free open
phone patch to the public. The site runs on several surplus telephone company batteries and a
charger, so in the event of a power failure it still keeps on running.
The cost of this site was killing and more than the club could afford so the lease was transferred
over to the Arizona Public Service Company. We were very lucky that the transfer occurred
because we were allowed to, remain in the building. The members keep a check on the site and
chase off the vandals from time to time.
Was just taken after the fence was replaced because of HEAVY vandalism. In this
photo you can see a long view of work well done.
This is the front door as it stands today with alarms and sensors on all the corners.
