Years ago when I was asked to go to A61AJ and help put up towers, put
together yagis, and install them, I was presented with the first plan, a
pair of 200-foot towers with long 2" masts and lots of big yagis stacked
close together.
Drawing on what I'd learned from the sorts of experienced guys who are on
Towertalk, cumulative (it was before Towertalk I think, or at least I wasn't
on it), I suggested, instead, four towers of 100' with a single monobander
on each, 40-10. Especially from a rare spot, more height wasn't
necessary -- the main idea would be to run Europe and North America -- 200'
might be too high to be optimum for Europe anyway -- closer in rare stuff
was more of a "chip shot" (Africa, Central and South Asia, Middle East,
Indian Ocean -- Pacific isn't and Caribbean can be tough during parts of the
openings when you can hear the Caribbeans well but they're beaming NA and
running loud NAs -- I remember a time when there were half a dozen Africans,
Indian Oceans, and Middle East stations calling P40W and other Caribbeans
and not being able to get through! -- frustrating!)
But, 100' towers with single monobanders for 40-10 would be easier to
install and maintain, etc. Spaced properly we could put an 80M wire beam
fixed NW (same beam heading from there for Europe and east coast U.S.),
though it'd be nice if the towers were higher for that, and further
expansion would be possible if desired, but these basic, effective, ones
would be a great start and could become reliable backups if bigger stuff was
still wanted. I also suggested a shorter tower right by the hamshack for a
tribander, as a backup, short coax run, far enough from the others to not
interfere, etc.
And that's what was done. One part of it was we wanted to have effective
antennas up by the end of that week so we could op the CQWW CW, which the
two of us did. The next year we had 5 operators and did well, and the next
year there were 10 of us operating and we set the all time Asia M/M record
in the CQWW CW, which still stands.
For the station builder not constrained by small real estate and undue cost
considerations, you can "do it all." Getting 100' towers up with single
monobanders is an excellent start and you're on the air bigtime.
Continue on with the huge stuff, the beyond-the-envelope stuff, if you want,
by all means go for it and have fun. You end up with separate, redundant,
antenna systems. But you don't have to be held back by trying to decide on
some of the bigger stuff, you can go ahead with "more normal big stuff."
73 - Rich, KE3Q
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael J. Castellano" <km1r@cshore.com>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 4:02 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] 300 ft tower conundrum
My humble opinion...
go with shorter towers in a better location. I have two 300 footers, and if
it were not for the fact that my company owns them (I'm in the tower
business), I would never put them up for ham radio.
The initial expense of building and strobing them is high, and the ongoing
costs to monitor them (alarm company that produces a printed record just in
case...) And the neighborhood screaming about height and lighting is
horrendous in most areas. (Even though the lighting is federally required).
I would go with a bunch of towers UNDER 200, you won't notice the difference
in almost all cases, and unless you live on top of an airport, you just
saved a lot of $$ and grief about lighting... and of course, expensive
steel...
This summer, my 160m dipoles and slopers are coming off the towers...just
isn't worth the hassle... It can all be done with a quad array of ground
mounted 1/4 wave verticals...
no matter what you do, the best of success with the project... hope to hear
a strapping signal on the bands.
73!
Mike KM1RNo virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
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> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
> any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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