Stan, the system I use, which I was taught by others here in the ATL area and
which
I have modified is like this.
I connect a STEEL cable about 2' above the antenna to be lowered or raised. IF
the antenna is more than a foot above the top of the tower, I lower it to that
level. The cable is of course secured to the mast. To bring the antenna down, I
have a length of HEAVY chain which I secure about 3 feet out from the center of
the antenna. ( I usually when I build the antenna put heavy duty eye bolts in
these positions. The chain has safety belt clamps which merely clip onto the eye
bolts. The center of the chain has a heavy duty ( rated at 480 lbs---destruct
level over 2000 pounds---made by Deuel Manf. ) pully which is treaded onto the
cable and the normal mount of the pully connects to the center of the chain.
I mount another pully ( using muffler clamps above the 2' point, and have one
directly at the base of the tower. I use medium duty ( > 500 pounds breaking
point ) nylon line, run it through the tower base pully to the tower mast
pully,
and connect to center of chain. Next I tension the far end of the cable with my
pickup truck, or to a BIG tree. Use a "come-along" but don't get carried away.
The base pully rope goes to my Toyota Tractor....Dismount the antenna and the
weight and all are transferred to the cable. Down the tower and either pull on
the the rope ( if the antenna is on the ground ) or start out about 150' away
and drive toward the antenna. Rope goes through pully, gravity starts antenna
down and hopefully, you will have the antenna at ground level before you hit the
tower with the tractor. Incidentally, somewhere on the cable at about the 20'
point above ground...I put a couple of cable clamps to form a stop. After the
antenna is down, I loosen the cable and the antenna comes gently to ground.
I do this by myself, and it usually takes about an hour....up or down. BE SURE
the cable pulls against a guy OR install a temp guy opposite the pully. ( except
for light antennas...say up to 75 pounds. )
I'm sure some of the other guys can comment or add to this. Good luck...Also
works out fine for testing the antenna and tuning it before you permanently
install
it...
73, Ed
-------------------------------------
Name: ed sleight
E-mail: k4sb@avana.net
Time: 04:54:23
This message was sent by Chameleon
-------------------------------------
>From jreid@aloha.net (Jim Reid) Sun Jun 23 07:33:43 1996
From: jreid@aloha.net (Jim Reid) (Jim Reid)
Subject: 21st Century Licensing
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19960623063343.00699ad0@aloha.net>
I sent to the ARRL the following; was stimulated by posts by
Gary, KN0Z:
"To: Stephen A. Mendelsohn
First Vice President, ARRL
Aloha Steve,
With regard to your memo to the ARRL Board of Directors,
"The Coming Storm....or Opportunity": I wish to suggest
the following "solutions" for consideration. It is the result
of a reasonable quantity of discussion among amateurs subscribing
to various amateur radio interest reflectors and discussion
groups on the world-wide internet. Our attempt has been to
keep a broad outlook on the present state of affairs in amateur
radio as expressed by the April document realesed by the IARU
"The Future of the Amateur Radio Service". Also, we are
mindful of the interests of the ARRL, as outlined by you; and other groups
who have an interest in the future of the amateur
radio service, for example, the equipment
manufacturers.
We propose the following for your review:
1. Whatever the future Amateur operating spectrum bands are
determined to be made available by the ITU between 1.8 and
30 mHz, each band is divided into exclusive mode operating
frequency segments (in proportions and frequency range
increments to be determined) among three types of exclusive
Amateur operating activity: analog mode, digital mode and
CW mode.
2. All countries will issue only three classes
of Amateur Operating/Station licenses. The two higher grade
licenses, General and Expert, will be endorsable with one, two or
three operating privilege certifications: analog mode band access;
digital mode band access; CW mode band access. The licensee
may hold any or all of the endorsements as his interests in
learning the material and passing the tests to earn the
endorsements is demonstrated by appropriate examination.
3. This idea, if adopted, might result in the United States, in
something similar to the following set of license classes and
operating privleges:
3.1 Basic Phone----28mhz and up...license examination includes
basic electronics and radio theory
including VHF, UHF and microwave
propogation theory, regulation rules,
and basic phone modulation theory (SSB
and FM) and operating procedures tests.
3.2 General-----18mhz and up...Hold/pass Basic Phone elements as
above, plus HF propagation theory test and
HF band rules as applicable, 18 to 30mHz.,
plus 5 WPM code for access endorsement
for CW subbands; OR, plus digital mode
theory for access endorsement to digital
mode subbands; OR, plus analog mode (SSB,
SSTV) theory for access endorsement
to the phone subbands; OR any two OR all
three privilege endorsements.
3.2 Expert---- All HF Amateur Bands..Hold/pass Basic Phone and
General elements as above, plus advanced radio
and lower band propagation theory; plus 12 WPM
for access endorsement for CW
subbands; OR, plus advanced digital mode
theory for access endorsement to digital
mode subbands; OR, plus advanced analog
mode theory for access endorsement to the
phone subbands; OR, any two OR all
three privilege endorsements.
Under this license structure, all present license class holders
would be "grandfathered-in". That is, in the US, all present
General, Advanced and Extra Class holders become licensed as
Expert with all band/mode access privileges. All Novice
and Technician Plus license holders become General Class
license holders; Technician/No-Code license holders become
licensed as Basic Phone holders. Also, all present
Novice and Technician Class license holders are
granted CW frequency mode allocation access in all HF
amateur bands, a privelge they now partially hold.
In this way, no one has to ever learn Morse Code skills to
be licensed to operate somewhere within each world wide
allocated amateur HF frequency band, and those that care
to be CW operators may do so, and have clear CW frequency
bands available to pursue that mode.
This proposed licensed structure should offer plenty of
incentive for the amateur, not interested in learning
the CW Morse code, to continue to upgrade his/her skills
as a radio operator and to be examined as such. This will
continue to demonstrate the committmint to self-training,
a tradition of the international amateur radio service.
If, for whatever reason, a nation should choose not to
offer a CW examination or license endorsement to citizens
of that nation, they may so elect. Under the new (coming)
international reciprocal license structure, should an
amateur live in a nation not offering CW endorsement,
he/she may be examined and licensed for CW endorsement by
any other nation offering such examinations/endorsements
and then may operate with the CW mode in the applicable
HF band segments from within any ITU treaty signing nation,
including the nation of his native/home citizenship.
These ideas should provide a way for the amateur radio service to
continue to grow during the 21st century, and satisfy most,
if not all elements within the current discussion regarding
the future of the amateur radio service, as outlined in
the April 1996 IARU "Future of the Amateur Radio Service"
document. These thoughts can also provide input to the
solution of issues introduced by you in your notes to the
ARRL Board of Directors.
Mahalo for reading this wordy submittal, Steve.
73, Jim, AH6NB"
jreid@aloha.net
On the Garden Island of Kauai
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