on 1/6/03 5:49 PM, Bill & Tammie at bltlawrence12@worldnet.att.net wrote:
> I would ike to have at lease a 30' to 40' free standing to start out with. I
> don't even have myself a radio yet.
Hi Bill,
The first question is what would you like to use the tower for? And second
is how much are you able to afford?
The second is the easiest to answer quickly. If you get a "free" tower,
plan on spending at LEAST $500 to $1000 to put it up. This includes digging
the hole, a rebar cage, pouring concrete, miscellaneous costs (climbing
belt, hard hats, tools, etc.). My 53 feet of Rohn 25 cost me $75 total.
But then I had to buy the base plate, guys, concrete, etc. etc. Spent at
least $1000 on it total.
So be prepared for that!
Now to the first question. What sort of antennas do you want to put up?
What do you want to do in ham radio (do you have a license yet??). If you
are just getting started, you may wish to try getting your feet wet with a
dipole or vertical and then move up to a tower.
Or if you really want to go the route of buying beams and rotors, etc (it is
WELL worth it, IMHO), then you have to ask yourself if 30' or even 40' is
even enough. If you live in a two story home, your roof is likely 30 feet
at peak or thereabout. You can quite easily get a small beam up on a small
roof tower for a fraction of the cost of a big tower. I have a 14 foot roof
tower on my roof. My house is a split level so the roof plus the tower puts
me right around 39 feet or so. On this tower, I had my HF beam, a UHF beam
and a 2m vertical for 5 years. Just this fall when I got my tower put up
did I change things around. Worked some rare DX with that set up and
probably 200 countries. I got the tower free from an estate sale and it
cost me virtually nothing to put up!
So there's some food for thought! Towers are awesome and I love mine now
that I have it. I recommend them! But they are a big undertaking and
there's a lot that goes into planning one and putting one up. I just wanted
to give you some extra food for though.
73,
Jon
NA9D
-------------------------------------
Jon Ogden
NA9D (ex: KE9NA)
Citizen of the People's Democratic Republik of Illinois
Life Member: ARRL, NRA
Member: AMSAT, DXCC
http://www.qsl.net/na9d
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
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