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Author Topic: House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room  (Read 634 times)

EA0021SWL

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House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room
« on: March 17, 2022, 09:17:12 AM »

The madness of the war makes some people lose their heads a little (or maybe not). The fact is that a house recently appeared for sale with an amateur radio station included. The news of this house has been published by media around the world (see background). The news goes like this:

'Apocalypse dream house' with bomb shelter and radio room for sale for £266k
An "apocalypse dream house" complete with a Cold War-era fallout shelter and ham radio station is up for sale in the US, with bids starting at £266,000.


The radio station that includes the house

The house was built in 1957 and is located in Minnetonka, a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, about nine miles west of Minneapolis.

The listing for the property, in a beautiful wooded neighborhood, says, "Some vintage surprises are very interesting!"

That comment no doubt refers to the solar-powered greenhouse, hidden bomb shelter and ham radio facility, especially prevalent as fears of a new nuclear war mount after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Part of the listing with information about the "escape hatch" of the property (Image: pentzhomes.com)



The property was once owned by Henrietta and Bud Chute, who built the shelter in 1961 after their employers gave people money to build it. They were specially designed to protect the occupants from radioactive debris or radioactive fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many of these shelters were built as civil defense measures during the Cold War.

The basement or bunker area of ​​the home, modified during Cold War tensions (Image: pentzhomes.com) Read more related articles

In October 1961, President John F. Kennedy urged families to build bomb shelters to protect themselves from radioactive fallout in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union.

A control room, ham radio, a means of communication for when normal lines are down (Image: pentzhomes.com)

Tweeting about the listing, one user said, "This single-owner 1957 home in Minnetonka comes complete with a solar-powered greenhouse, hidden bomb shelter, and sick ham radio setup."

K3XR

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Re: House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2022, 09:44:15 AM »

I guess the ham gear was removed prior to taking the photo.  It's possible a close-up might reveal something but I can't identify any.
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AC2EU

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Re: House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2022, 09:50:44 AM »

I see  a window through the other side of the hall. Shouldn't a proper cold war bunker be under ground?

I remember when they used to sell them in the states. It was a pre-formed concrete shelter that got buried in the back yard. There was a slanted steel door that opened to the stairs.

Fun times!  >:(   Looks like we have come full circle. So much for "glastnos" and the "Russian spring".

WA2ISE

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Re: House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2022, 11:34:14 AM »



An old cold war poster that may become significant today,  Though telling the "Keep on the alert" from a town fire alarm apart could be hard to do. 
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K5LXP

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Re: House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2022, 11:52:17 AM »

My buddy had a home with a '50's bomb shelter.  It had both an outside hatch entrance and a tunnel you could get to it from the basement.  Very spartan: a bench seat, a steel frame bunk bed and some storage shelves.  There was nothing to scrub the air from the topside air vent pipe nor any plumbing facilities so I don't see it offering much long term protection.  A nice tornado shelter except no tornadoes in ABQ.  Gotta wonder how many of those were sold to unsuspecting citizens.

Mark K5LXP
Albuquerque, NM
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K6JGV

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Re: House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2022, 10:04:08 AM »

I didn't realize my station needed a turntable.
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K0UA

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Re: House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room
« Reply #6 on: March 18, 2022, 10:52:47 AM »

I didn't realize my station needed a turntable.

Well, actually two, not to mention a huge reel to reel machine and a sound mixing board.  Didn't seen any ham radio equipment though.  :)
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73  James K0UA

AC2EU

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Re: House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room
« Reply #7 on: March 18, 2022, 10:53:54 AM »

I didn't realize my station needed a turntable.

Sure it does. You listen to music while you wait for the fallout to clear.
It's a modern day twist on the Titanic band playing as the ship sank!

K6CPO

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Re: House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2022, 12:45:58 PM »

I didn't realize my station needed a turntable.

Well, actually two, not to mention a huge reel to reel machine and a sound mixing board.  Didn't seen any ham radio equipment though.  :)

I downloaded and blew up the picture and the only thing I saw in it that referenced amateur radio were the words "Amateur Radio Weather Station" above and below the dials on the right side of the wall.
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KB8VUL

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Re: House to resist the apocalypse and with a radio room
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2022, 03:33:40 PM »

That looks remarkably like a radio station studio and NOT a ham shack.
Now that being said, that WOULD be something that if the bombs fell that someone could get a radio station back on the air.
And while that really doesn't fall on a ham operator to do,  I am also thinking that if multiple AM / FM stations were off the air after a strike and there was no public radio on the air, I don't know that hams having that ability and doing so would result in any significant blow back from the FCC over it. 

I did NOT look at the equipment closely enough to see if there was a transmitter there or not.
And due to the age of what I can see and identify, folks that aren't familiar may think that high end stereo gear may be ham gear and this guy is just making sure he can sit and listen to Floyd, Rush and Styx while the world goes to hell around him.
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