Many thanks to Rand (W7UDT) for sharing this short field report:
Eiffel Tower QRP (Failed) “Activation”
by Rand (W7UDT/FR)
Earlier this Spring, my wife & I went on a ten day vacation to Paris. What a beautiful city, and a memorable time we had! Amongst our many excursions, was a visit to the Eiffel Tower.
As an iconic Paris structure, it has few rivals, save perhaps the Great Wall, or Pyramids of Giza. Gustave Eiffel and just 200 or so men, assembled this pre-fabricated masterpiece, with 2.5 million hot rivets, in around two and one half years. And no one died! Imagine that, all 1,000 feet or so, built in the 1890’s. Wow!
The Eiffel Tower is truly an amazing structure, and soooo… (In the spirit of Eiffel), I had an idea. Why not stealthily activate its summit, and send out a beacon signal, just to see what propagation may be achieved.
Here’s a link: The Eiffel Tower and science – OFFICIAL Eiffel Tower Website
My QRP Kit…
- QRP Labs QCX Mini Twenty w/K6ARK CapKey Mod
- TalentCell 3aH 12v w/DC Lead (Velcro’d, banded & handheld)
- 20m T-Whip Antenna (measured & tested SWR) & φ 20″ (counterpoise)
My unsent beacon message… (In two Parts)
“Test Test de W7UDT W7UDT/FR Liberte’ Egalite’ Fraternite!”
“Vive la France! de W7UDT/FR Eiffel Tower Paris Test Test”
But alas, the crowds, the anti-suicide/base jumping (faraday) cage at its summit, and my wife, all served to dissuade me from extending the whip, and sending out the beacon. So sadly, no attempt was made.
I personally would love to have some relative of Ol’ Gustave do it, and activate the summit. Why not? He’d intended its heights to be used as scientific platform, and to be admired by all who visited.
Vive la France!
72 de W7UDT ID (dit dit)
Oh, Rand! I have an $1100 solution that’s custom-designed for this particular activity.
Hint: It’s starts with “Elecraft” and Ends with “KH1”–!
Ha ha!
Cheers et 72,
Thomas
My little QMX is more than capable… but, next time, I may set up down on on a lower level, and see what my signal yields.
Vive La France!
It is an amazing structure. I went to see the Tokyo tower when visiting Japan with work in 2004. It is inspired by the Eiffel Tower, but interestingly is around 4000 tonnes of steel vs the 7300 tonnes requires for the original. This was apparently due to advances in steel technology since the 1890s? I am saying this based on the information from the guide, so I would not be offended if someone points out an error in my information!
Rgds., and 73,
Paul
C’est la vie
I’m sure Jeeves must have loaded up the tower as some point in the fading past.
LOL!
I’ll have to look through my collection of Gil cartoons; you may be right!
Hello all! It’s Rand, W7UDT/FR… Well there it is… a personal challenge to licensed ham to activate the Tower!
How many selfies, and mobile phone calls have been made at it’s summit? It seems all too appropriate to honor Eiffel & Edison, and send out that message!
72 de W7UDT ID (dit dit)
Pesky Faraday cage! Bravo for the idea, and the try, anyway!
It could be our ‘QRP Everest!’ The Golden Gate Bridge, the Washington Monument, Empire State Building, Space Needle, CN Tower… All await activation.
72 de W7UDT
I could probably pull off activating the Empire State Building. I know some people… 😉 I’d like to do a special event station activation from there.
Sorry your Eiffel Tower activation got scrubbed. It was a good idea.
You forgot the Liberty Statue … any idea of the height ?
72
Interesting post Mike, and very nice kit!
The total height of the Statue of Liberty is 305 feet. The stone pedestal is a bit less than half of that and has a promenade open to the public that is, I’m guessing, about 130 feet. A handheld rig with minimum antenna could probably be used there.
The statue is copper clad and the only areas accessible to the public are a stairway inside. Not a good place for RF.
What is the K6ARK CapKey Mod?
Adam, K6ARK, installed a capacitive key modification… the two chrome acorn nuts are my key…
When I visited the tower 6 years ago, I had my Tecsun PL-365 receiver with me. I tried to do some receiving, but got nothing on HF even when I touched the telescoping antenna to the actual tower. RF hell for receiving
In 2012, for the 70 years of the French Signal Corps, Eiffel Tower was activated on amateur radio bands. Call was TM70TE.
Here’s a short clip: https://youtu.be/c_JL2VC9Ixc?si=IMSYK8n3qDUfJDJy
Here’s a final report: https://j28ro.blogspot.com/2012/08/tm70te-compte-rendu.html
73!
Chris, IX1CKN
Cool… thanks..,
Using an FM handheld transceiver may be a better choice for this kind of situation, it’s in a big city.