Bill,
Having done some of the things you are planning on doing with my own
50' Rohn 25 tower, I would advise you to spend a little more money on
the tower and get something that is either totally self-supporting, or
alternatively, a tower that needs no support above the house bracket.
Guy wires are trouble enough when you use earth anchors. When you
have to install raised guy anchors and house anchors, they're an
incredible nuissance. You will end up spending an extraordinary
amount of time designing and installing these special guy supports.
Ask Tony how many days he spent working on his house bracket, crawling
around in his hot attic measuring, drilling, fabricating special
parts, etc. The effort of actually putting the antennas on my tower
was trivial compared to all the work I did on guying it. With
hindsight I would have been much better off just using Rohn 45 or Rohn
55, which need no guys above the house bracket, or using a
self-supporting tower. I don't care for crankups, but something like
the Rohn RTP series would be ideal.
Another disadvantage of guy wires on a small lot is that aesthetically
they give an appearance to the tower that will not be what your xyl
and neighbors want to see. I painted my guys with flat black paint,
which helped a lot, but they still give a certain "rats nest"
appearance to the antenna installation.
73,
Ed Gilbert, WA2SRQ
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