The Project Diana site is a 2-acre fenced compound adjoining Marconi Road on flat ground with three and a quarter sides having steep slopes down to the Shark River. The slopes have mature tree growth that block all views of the Shark River at present, however older aerial photos from the 1940's show the river below the site .
There is no landscaping design, however there is grass to cut and leaves to collect as well as other grounds maintenance that club members and other volunteers now perform. There are paved service driveways to the two antenna support buildings in the compound and in numerous places within the compound there are concrete slabs, concrete foundations, and similar remains of past equipment or projects that have not been unearthed. The paved areas on the site provide for adequate parking for about 50 vehicles near the club house and a total of 100 throughout with additional parking available on the main road.
The Diana site is completely enclosed by a security fence which has gates that are kept locked when no activities are taking place. In old WWII photos of the site, the perimeter security fence around the research area at that time had concrete posts with barbed wire between the posts. Later this was replaced with the current chain linked fence that is eight-foot high fence is topped with barbed wire. The fence has two entrance gates next to each other, one of which when opened provides adequate clearance for the largest of vehicles one at a time.
There are two transformer substations remain which once were used to support research projects on-site from 1941-1985 which provide for exceptionl electrical service to support the needs of our Amateur Radio stations.
The Diana site has been the subject of much work by OMARC members and other volunteers from the local Amateur community. The building has undergone enough work that we now have a functional club house with freshly painted rooms, restored doors, a working bathroom and kitchen and various donated furniture, radio and other electronic equipments and materials, we also have the beginning makings of a great technical library.
When first entering the main club house building the familiar OMARC banner is seen at the welcoming table holding the sign in book and various Amateur Radio handout materials.
Here is Larry, KB2RIS at our recent VE testing session.
The entry hall is quite large and is the center point of egress to all rooms within the building. It and all the rooms have been freshly painted, the light fixtures have been fixed or replaced and the floors have been washed and will soon have some broken tiles replaced, followed by a complete waxing and buffing job.
In one room that serves currently as our main Amateur Radio Station and CW training class we have two HF and one 6m all mode stations setup. (Note: A surprised K2DE)
Recently we had the pleasure of Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML (in the photo below) the ARRL Hudson Division Vice Director at our club meeting and later at the Diana site. Among other things Steve spoke about 30 meter QSO's now being eligible for a distinct DXCC award.
We also have a computer installation for logging, record keeping and CW training.
We also have a test bench setup that we are looking to configure with as much test equipment as we can for the benefit of the members to work on club related kit building projects, repair our club owned equipments and to allow club members to bring in their broken equipments for repairs.
We request that any member having excess test equipments consider a donation of them to the club rather than selling or throwing away.
The main training classroom is very spacious with a number of folding tables and chairs which allow for room changes as needed for the given event. We have a blackboard on the wall and a TV and VCR for technical tapes and speakers podium. This room is where we are now holding our OMARC board meetings.
In one corner of the room we also have the begining of a very good technical library for the benefit of the membership and the inspection of our visitors. Please consider donating all your Electronics, Engineering and Amateur Radio books and magazines to the club rather than throwing them away. (Note: W2UG checking out a title)
Adjacent to this room is bathroom with all the needed features.
Then there is our kitchen, which already sports a small refrigerator and electronic coffee maker. We are in hopes of future donations at some point of a working full size refrigerator and other items for the kitchen to support meetings, training classes and weekend contesting.
The building does have central heat and air conditioning, however both systems are in need of repairs as this is being written. The heating system is an oil burner that is in need of minor maintenance, whereas the air conditioning system may be in need of much more work.
Last, but not least, are our antenna systems at the rear and about the building nestled between the main building and the tree line.
We have wire antennae and a rotateble full size tri-bander on a Telex 40 foot crank up tower to get over the tree tops (shown at rest below) that is properly installed and guyed for safety.
The crank up tower (on loan by KB2RIS) will be replaced in the future with a much larger tower awaiting installation.
Below is a photo of W2ML touring our antenna farm during his recent visit.
The tower guys are very well marked with orange cones.
