On my first tower I put up two halogen car fog lights sideways. They make a
nice flat beam over something like a 45 degree angle so mounting them
sideways puts a nice fan of light up a tower. they are probably available
today with leds instead.
David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt@arrl.net
web: http://wiki.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: telnet://k1ttt.net:7373
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of N1BUG
Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2019 12:34
To: towertalk reflector
Subject: [TowerTalk] Illuminating antennas on towers
I don't recall seeing this come up before so I may be the only person
wanting to do it. It wouldn't be the first time. But before I go and invent
a wheel which may turn out to be triangular, I wanted to see if anyone has a
blueprint for a round wheel!
I have two 100 foot towers. There are times when I want to be able to see
the antennas at night, for example to see if the three wire top loading on
the LF vertical is surviving a storm or to estimate how much ice is up
there. Having grown tired of running out in storms with a powerful
flashlight I want to install some kind of permanent lighting at or near
ground level (preferably on a storage
shed) which will shine upward and offer some illumination of the antennas. I
don't need to turn night into day but I do need enough light to clearly make
out the antennas. Most antennas are yagis. I don't expect to be able to see
wires well but if I can spot insulators and the 1" aluminum tubes holding
the LF top hat together that will be good enough.
For one tower the light(s) would be pointed upward at a very steep angle (80
degrees) to illuminate antennas 100-130 feet away while the for other it
would be at an angle of perhaps 25 degrees to illuminate antennas some 200+
feet distant. I am looking for any suggestions on what type of lighting
might work well for this.
It doesn't appear to me that typical 120V outdoor flood / spot light
fixtures are sufficiently weatherproof to be safely pointed upward.
They look as though they would make fine rain collectors that way.
I've been looking at landscape lighting, but those seem to be low power
units which may or may not get the job done at these distances. I thought
about using sealed beam automotive headlights.
That would surely get the job done well enough but if I want it to look nice
there would be quite a bit of work in constructing a holder/mount.
I should add that I would prefer this lighting not produce RFI. I have an
ample supply of that already.
So, has anyone done this? What did you use? Results?
73,
Paul N1BUG
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