Ken:
I had a tail twister (still have it) up with a triple stack mono group on 20,
15 and 10 for many years and it did a great job. My tower blew down in 2004
with 3 beams on it and the top section of the tower and antennas ended up in a
tree. Destroyed one antenna, and mangled the other 2. The TT did a great job
during all of this and I believe (never checked it out yet) it survived the
fall (no physical damage evident).
I ended up buying a used US Tower 72ft motor driven tower with a Hygain TH-11,
Force 12EF180C (85' long 80M rotatatable dipole) and 2 el 40M beam on it and a
Msquare 2800 rotator driving it all. That is a lot of antenna wind load. I put
up the tower with the same antennas and rotator on it at my QTH, and took off
the 80M dipole a few years back after getting my 80M DXCC. The rotator has
been strong and reliable sonce the new installation for 8 y ears now and for at
least the same number of years at its previous location. They advise against
pinning the mast to the rotator (voids the warrantee and may break the
rotator). If you are careful to secure the mast to rotator bolts in the proper
sequence and very tightly, it is rare that it will slip. If it only slips a
little bit, you re-index the rotator display and life goes on. Major slips
might require slipping it back in place and re-tightening things (base bolts
first and th en the mast bolts last).
I am a true believer in the Orion (or Msquare if you wish) 2800 rotator and
would buy another, although I can't imagine this one ever breaking or failing.
Their customer service is superb.
John Owens - N7TK
Celebrating over 50 Years in Ham Radio
No. 1 Honor Roll
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