Congratulations on moving back to 7 land Bob. Although I have a 5 call from
many years of residence in Texas and Oklahoma I live near Spokane.
It sounds like you have a great place there and will have fun operating
with good antennas. Unfortunately, your idea would put extreme forces on the
house structure which, in my opinion, would be disasterous. While you can
beef up the roof area, the forces on the side walls would flatten your house
I believe. I also have serious doubts about the ability of the tower to
survive a lift from horizontal to vertical with all the antenna loads on it.
Why, in the world are you not considering a husky crank up tower?
Eliminate the guys. Lower the tower and use a ladder to climb up to the top
of the telescoped tower for antenna installation. It is very easy to pull
antennas up since no guys are in the way. I have a brute of a crank up tower
built by U.S.Tower (HDX5130) which is 131 ft tall, rated at 30 s.f. in an 80
mph wind and 75 s.f. in a 50 mph wind. It has digital readout of height and
an anemometer on top to lower it if the wind is too great. You could use one
of the SteppIR antennas to cover all bands. If you want individual
monobanders you could mount ring rotors at the top of the intermediate
sections. These towers are not cheap but, to me are worth every penny they
cost.
73, Dan, N5AR
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Bob Gates
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 12:31 AM
To: Tower Talk
Subject: [TowerTalk] "House" Method of Raising a Tilt-Over Tower
Evening/morning all,
My wife and I are celebrating tonight. We've just inked the contract to buy
a house in the Portland, OR area. Goodbye city life, back to God's country,
and adios to years of living under that dreaded term "covenants"! This will
be my first tower since 1978. And I was QRT from 1979 to about two years
ago. Have been existing with low power and a stealth vertical, camouflaged
and butted up against a big pine tree. Well, the new place sits on top of a
ridge with a 360 view (except for some trees blocking Mt. Hood. And I'll be
thankful for them when it erupts. Much has obviously changed in 25 years,
but I'm going back to the basics of installing a tower.
Now. I have an idea. And please spare me the snide remarks. Besides,
you'll be much more tempted as you read on. In fact, as you read my idea,
many old Andy Griffith fans will be tempted to issue forth with Barney
Fife's most notable quote about Ernest T. Bass: "He's a nut!"
Because of health reasons, I cannot climb a large tower. Well, maybe I
could, but someone would have to lower me down. What I propose to do is
install 120' of Rohn 55G with four yagis. The tower will tilt over near
ground level and be raised with a roof-mounted electric winch. Now stop
that! Hear me out first. For purposes of explanation, say the house and
roof ridge line runs east-west. I do not have enough room on either side of
the house to use the derrick/W3GM method because the guy wires won't fit.
The property is only (eat your hearts out city dwellers) about 115' wide at
the north end and slopes down hill to the south, widening as it goes. Rohn
specifies the guys to be 100' from the base. And I follow the
manufacturer's instructions. Right Uncle Steve? (And Rohn doesn't say you
can't torch a section in half and install hinge plates.) Trust me, the guys
won't fit in the side yards. On the south side of the house, the distance
from the tower base to the top
of the house ridge line is 25-30'. I have a total of 3 acres, but the
farther south I move the tower the lower it gets in relation to the crest of
the ridge. Now, 120' of 55G is about 1200#. Add to that a 95# yagi and a
55# yagi, plus rotor and mast, at the top. Another 95# yagi will be at 90',
and another 55# yagi at 60'. Total dead weight will be approximately 1700#.
Rohn specifies 3 sets of guys, but I would install 4 at 30' 60' 90' and
120'. This would help take the load of the lower yagis.
Now for the fun part, how to get this monstrosity up in the air. An
electric winch, designed for horizontal and vertical loads, would be
installed near the peak of the roof line, on the north side of the roof. I
would heavily reinforce the space between the two rafters where the winch
would be mounted, including steel plates on the roof and below the
reinforcement, Using the bolt pattern for the winch, long bolts would secure
the winch through the top steel plate/roof/reinforcements/and bottom steel
plate. Would also install multiple wood 2x8 bracing between multiple
rafters and joists on either side of the winch mount point. With guy wires
running SE, SW and North, I would hook the winch to the North running guy
secured at the 90' point on the tower. Then just pull that puppy up, attach
all the other guys, release the guy used for pulling the tower up from the
winch and join an additional length so it could be guyed to the north of the
house with the other North running
guys. Simple.
Okay, now I'm ready. Lay it on me. And has anyone else been stupid enough
to try this?
73, Bob W7BJ/5 and about to be just old W7BJ (unless I get another call
sign to mask my identity)
_______________________________________________
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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http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
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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.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
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