EME Enthusiasts Take Note

[W2XR]

This nuclear-hardened SATCOM earth station in beautiful Monterey County in Northern California can be yours for around $3M. It would be great for the serious moonbounce or radio astronomy enthusiast, and includes living quarters, etc. Not too useful for HF, though.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/montereyksbw-18229918/for-sale-nuclear-bomb-proof-space-station-in-carmel-valley-27772945.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fmontereyksbw-18229918%252Ffor-sale-nuclear-bomb-proof-space-station-in-carmel-valley-27772945.html

Good luck with your negotiations with the listing broker!

73,

Bruce

[Steve - K4HX]

Beautiful. Looks like it has room for other antennas too. That dish would be good for old school EME, but with WSJT, such big antennas aren't needed for EME now.

[W2XR]

Hi Steve,

I think the site is on 20 acres. That is prime real estate in that part of northern CA. I'll bet that $3M for 20 acres in Monterey County may be a pretty damn good deal nowadays, and that attractive price may be to entice a potential buyer to incur the significant costs of demolishing those large and nuclear-hardened/radically overbuilt structures.

And with 20 acres of property, you could of course erect some very nice HF arrays.

Let's see, $3M at 3.3% for 30 years...................

73,

Bruce

[Opcom]

If I were 30 years younger and filthy rich.. the perfect lair for the mad scientist!

[KB2WIG]

'  the perfect lair for the mad scientist! "

And close to the ocean.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bYNAHXxw

klc

[AF9J]

Oooh!  With that antenna, you could really push the envelope for microwave, and millimeter band EME!  10 GHz EME, is much more common than it used to be, and there are even a few stations that do 24 GHz EME (the highest amateur radio band EME has been successfully worked on, is 47GHz).  I assume that all of the steering gear would be a part of the deal, making it a breeze to hold heading, in spite the tight beam patterns that antenna would have on 10 GHz and above.  That thing must be running waaay over 30 dB of gain.  Throw using WSJT, and you're good to go!   

[k4kyv]

But I'm sure the state would tax you to death for owning the property.  They would base the tax rate on the property's development potential, not on what you were actually using it for. Even if the property were in the clear, paid for in full, it would probably still be cheaper to rent something a little more modest.

[KB2WIG]

" But I'm sure the state would tax you to death for owning the property."

I'm shure that a few dollar$ tosed in the appropriate Republicrat funds will keep the taxes low.


klc

[ke7trp]

The only problem is that its in California.  Even if you paid the money, The gov would infringe in one way or another every year until you gave in and sold it like he is doing now. 

I know of a radio mans paradise here in AZ.  It was a huge undergound bomb shelter that was later turned into a communications station.  It had a HUGE, heavy duty tower and other smaller towers,  You could Drive down into the building and close the door behind you.  Had power, and gen sets and you got all the Radio gear.  I really wish I would have paid the money at the time.  It would have been a great Ham shack. It was up north a bit where it was cooler.

C

[KE6DF]

But I'm sure the state would tax you to death for owning the property.  They would base the tax rate on the property's development potential, not on what you were actually using it for. Even if the property were in the clear, paid for in full, it would probably still be cheaper to rent something a little more modest.

Thanks to Prop 13, the tax assessment is based on what you paid for the property. It can only go up 2% per year no matter how much the value changes. If the market value of the property goes down below the assessed value, then taxes are reduced.

I have been paying lower taxes for the past couple years on three rentals plus my residence.

One of the few nice features of the California tax system.

[Steve - K4HX]

Eh, just take some of the acreage and grow "medical" marijuana. You be rolling in the dough and you'll get the farm land tax rate.

[Opcom]

Eh, just take some of the acreage and grow "medical" marijuana. You be rolling in the dough and you'll get the farm land tax rate.

I was about to suggest agriculture but hadn't considered that sort, but cows or something. Cattle is how my farming relatives make it.

I suppose there is room in that facility for a lab devoted to quality control testing of proposed crops?

[KX5JT]

I was about to suggest agriculture but hadn't considered that sort, but cows or something. Cattle is how my farming relatives make it.

I didn't think they ate meat in California, land of fruits and nuts.

[KE6DF]

I didn't think they ate meat in California, land of fruits and nuts.

Fruits and nuts would grow just fine out in Monterey county 

There are lots of issues with getting water in some part of that country, however.

[K6JEK]

Oops. Started a new thread when I saw the NY times piece. Great pictures in that article

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/us/jamesburg-earth-station-can-be-yours-for-3-million.html?emc=eta1

I'm from near there so I know a little about the area:

Carmel Valley is an agricultural area, primarily vineyards including some terrific ones like:

http://www.joullian.com/
http://www.georiswine.com/
http://www.galantevineyards.com/
http://www.bernardus.com/winery/

Marijuana farms are mostly further south in Big Sur and north in Mendocino County.

It is on 160 acres, enough for a small vineyard.

There are tax provisions to protect agriculture in California. A city can't zone the place commercial and start taxing it as though it were condos. But there is no city in those parts anyway. Carmel Valley is unincorporated. Just last year they voted down incorporation.

Yes there are plenty of fruits and nuts in California, literally and metaphorically. It is the largest agricultural state in the Union, grows plenty of fruits and nuts not to mention vegetables and livestock, and is also home to the Castro district in SF and Venice Beach in Southern California. All bases are covered.

This radar place costs too much. Maybe we should form a limited partnership and sell shares in RF Vineyards and Winery. We will need a slogan.