W4WC Repeaters and W4RUL Contest Club VHF/UHF Contest Site
Several people have expressed interest in the Camp Creek Bald Mountain Firetower. I'm not up much on the local history, but the tower dates back to at least 1928, as that is a date that is written in the concrete under the tower. The tower was manned up until the 1980's during fire seasons, then it was abandoned by the US Forest Service in favor of satellite tracking of forest fires. The Tennessee Navy MARS leased the tower and maintained a presence there until 2000. When they relinquished the lease, the Andrew Johnson ARC assumed it. The following pictures were takin before, during, and after the restoration efforts. The Tennessee-North Carolina state line passes beneath the tower, with 3 legs being in North Carolina and 1 leg in Tennessee.
This is much how the firetower looks today. It is home to the 145.390 and 443.200 W4WC Repeaters. In addition to the antennas for the repeaters, we have small horizontal beam antennas for 6 meters, 2 meters, and 432 mhz. The weather at 4900 ft can be extreme in the winter and the small antennas seem to survive very well. The wind was blowing pretty hard on this particular day, if you noticed the curves in the fiberglass vertical antennas and the sign on the left side of the tower above the steps. The cylinder hanging off to the left of the steps is a wood counterweight for the heavy metal trapdoor that secures the catwalk from unauthorized visitors.
This picture was taken in January of 2004. The snow was not to bad to get up to the tower, but it was bitterly cold outside. The tower is about 25 feet off the ground and it takes your breath away to climb those steps. That's N4CAG all bundled up and standing in North Carolina. The steps begin in Tennessee and the state lines loops to the center and back out around that leg of the tower.
K4MIK inside with K4MIJ outside working during restoration. The drawers and doors from the cabinets were all missing when the club assumed the lease and a couple windows were broken out. The firetower had been heavily vandalized over a several month period.
This picture was taken several weeks later. This particular day they had laid some "new" carpet that was donated by one of the club members so the repeaters were moved from the floor until the work was finished. The original interior had a dark, varnished ceiling and it was decided that painting the inside white would give the interior a much better appearance. N7ILT volunteered to make new drawers and doors and you can see his efforts. The inside area is round with a 360 degree view through windows, except for where the door is located. If you stand dead center, the acoustics of the tower are very strange, as all sound seems to go dead.
This is our first VHF/UHF contest in June 2002 where we got to enjoy the fruits of our hard labors. As you can see, K4MIK is definitely taking a break from the 2 meter SSB station. We had 6, 2 and 432 mhz stations going with the 6 and 2 meter beams on the same rotor/mast. This was separated for the next contest because we discovered we needed to be able to turn the 2 meter antenna independently of the 6 meter antenna.
K4WS talking and N4CAG logging on 6 meters. For this contest I hauled my Icom IC551 and homebrew kilowatt for 6 up to the firetower. To the left is my old KLM Echo 70 432mhz SSB radio. It has since been replaced by a Icom IC706MKIIG.
K4WS and N4CAG start putting the chains on at 4500 ft elevation. The final 3/4 mile leg of the trip to the top can be pretty treacherous and to get to the very top requires 4WD and chains. This location is where the old Viking Mountain Ski Lodge and Resort Area used to be.
This view can be well worth the trip. This is looking to the east toward Roan Mountain. All of the valleys you see are located in North Carolina .
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