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[CQ-Contest] Going from 50 to 70 ft.

To: <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Going from 50 to 70 ft.
From: "KL7RA" <kl7ra@ptialaska.net>
Reply-to: KL7RA <kl7ra@ptialaska.net>
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:25:30 -0800
List-post: <cq-contest@contesting.com">mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
Yo Ralph

I did this very thing for KL7IGZ. On a flat lot it showed it was worth it
for his non-contest activity and an improvement for both ten and fifteen 
meters. But it did a lot more.

This was a good thing as it forced this tower installation to use real guy 
anchors, real Phillystran instead of halibut rope, replaced the old coax 
with low loss LMR and we installed a better tribander yagi with better 
low band antennas.

All this just to add 20 feet. About five of us did it in just a day.  Johnny 
was very happy with the results, not so happy having to pay for all this
when it was "just" adding two sections but there are some poor tower
installs being used by our non-contesting friends and we have all seen 
them. 

Just "adding" 20 feet moves them away from 50 footer fall-overs flavor
to a more professional antenna system. It has been my experience that
40 or 50 feet is about the limit for no-tools, no design towers used for
casual operating by some of my friends.

I also suggest using a gin pole and proper tower installation techniques
regardless of height. It takes the proper equipment to install a radio tower 
and some of it is not trivial to buy.

73 Rich KL7RA  (just got down from pre-WPX tower work)
  
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