Jim,
No machine shop guy necessary to fabricate a FB tiller (leading or
trailing). I used a light piece of aluminum angle stock, drilled at one
end to accept a standard muffler clamp (or u-bolt, or boom to mast clamp,
whatever you prefer to call it) that fits around the boom of the antenna
to be trammed. At the other end, one hole for a simple 1" detachable chain
link, like the type used to attach the safety chains on a trailer hitch. A
carabiner could also be used, but being bigger, has more slop to account
for when adjusting the angle the antenna elements need to ride at to clear
guywires. This link rides on the tram line (trailing the boom is my
preference). At the top of the lift, it's the matter of a few seconds work
with a ratchet wrench to detach the muffler clamp and rotate the antenna
elements back to the horizontal plane. The tiller can either be detached
by opening the trailing link (you then choose your method of returning it
to ground -- I favor free-fall, since I have no ground crew to worry
about, and I like to watch things "fly" from the top of my tower), or you
can let it slide back down the tram line (not recommended if you are using
your vehicle to anchor the end of the tram).
You want a vee-tiller? Simple, just make up two of the tillers described
above, but offset or angle the muffler clamp holes so the tiller arm
trails back at an angle. Clamp one on each side of the boom's center of
gravity. Have a ball.
73,
Steve Zettel KJ7CH
near Libby, MT USA Home of "Logger Engineering", and other oxymorons. .
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