After many intense weeks of installation and troubleshooting, I'm happy to
report that my new U.S. Tower 72' motorized tubular crankup with rotating
base is up, fully operational, and sporting a very fine Hy-Gain TH7DX. The
beam works great, the SWR curve is terrific (my amp loves it), and the tower
is well screened by the trees, as planned (it was invisible at first; a few
bits of aluminum show through now that the leaves have dropped -- but the
XYL isn't complaining and that was the goal.) The 80 meter inverted vee and
GAP multiband vertical are up as well. It's doubtful that I'll have time to
build the 40M 4-square this year, but maybe I can get one of the full size
verticals up before the snow flies.
The installation included a 4-foot deep 250 foot long trench with three runs
of PVC electrical conduit (4", 2.5", and 1"), 250 feet of bare 1/0 ground
wire direct buried in the trench, two runs of LMR400UF, and five sets of
multiwire cables of various sizes (one for the tower raising motor, one for
the rotor, one for the antenna switch, one for the 4-square phased array,
and one spare), four steel termination boxes (two with customized grounding
panels with a complete set of Polyphaser lightning arrestors at both ends of
every wire running in the conduit), and an extensive Cadwelded ground system
featuring 1/0 radials (still in progress.) And that only begins to describe
the many tasks that had to be completed. This was one tough project.
Problems? There were many small ones, but the big ones included two gigantic
boulders and one seam of honest-to-goodness ledge in the trench that
required a day and a half for an excavator-mounted hydraulic hammer to
remove, huge problems getting the tower to rotate (there was a simple fix in
the end), and a nearly disasterous coax snag while the tower was being
extended remotely (destroyed the antenna balun and coax). Murphy has been
such a constant companion that I'm almost afraid to let you know that
everything is working for fear that he'll return with a vengance.
Successes? Well, getting the 7 yards of concrete down the hill was no
problem -- the cement truck just drove right down there (uh, if you're
wondering why it took so much 'crete, it's because the excavator
accidentally dug the hole too wide and too deep -- at the contractor's
expense!) Getting the tower off the delivery truck and carrying it down the
hill to the base was a delicate job, but the excavator did a fine and expert
job with his bucket loader. In all, it only took a couple of hours and went
without a hitch.
I want to take this moment to extend my thanks to everyone on this reflector
who took the time to answer my endless questions over the past few months.
I'm proud of the professional quality of my installation and I know that I
just could not have done it without you. I didn't know much about erecting
towers before joining the reflector, and your help has been invaluable.
Thanks.
My thanks also goes to many vendors whose fine products and excellent
service made this project possible. First and foremost, I would like to
thank Gerald, the owner of Texas Towers, for his constant help, expert
advice, and encouragement. He and his company are a pleasure to deal with (I
have no affiliation, etc., etc.). I encourage all of you to buy everything
you can from Texas Towers. Second, although all of my problems with the
tower could have been prevented through documentation, Bruce, the owner of
U.S. Tower, spent a great deal time personally helping me through all of
them. He was knowledgable, friendly, and genuinely concerned about my
satisfaction. I think this company gets an undeserved bad rap, and I'll have
lots more to say about U.S. Tower in a subsequent post. Jim Miller at Comtek
spent a great deal of time consulting with me about the 4-square,
information which was crucial for both the array itself and the site
planning. Also very helpful were the folks at Hy-Gain (beam and T2X rotor),
The RF Connection (Cadweld products), Polyphaser (lightning arrestors and
associated equipment), and, of course, our fearless leader KC7LX at Tower
Tech (his reprints, Scotch 88 and that vapor wrap stuff are great!)
Thanks again, and if all that stuff stays up in the air, I'll see you on the
bands!
73, Dick, WC1M
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