Joe .. that is part of the fun of Amateur Radio, `spearmintin' and like
that! In the days of yore, many a ham shack had directional antennas turned
by hand .. called the "ARMSTRONG METHOD" .. I have had some like that, a
couple as simple as a nylon line looped around the front of a yagi antenna,
with appropriate tie-off points in the wanted directions ... with a
tri-bander or like that, you don't need any north-pointing hoot owls or like
that .. find Polaris, stick a stake that-a-way, and go for it. Look for
ancient publications with Armstrong Rotator install hints .. not too hard to
find .. lots of hams had steering wheels with compass points to spin that
thar aerial! AND .. you can find bargains on rotators from time to time,
especially if you are willing to take them apart and get them functioning
... not brain surgery, and lots of help available here, and at the rotator
(or, rotor .. like you had in your `57 Chevvy distributor) repair places,
they are really swell at providing info, and have parts galore... quite
reasonable to redo as new!
73 Mark Nelson - AA6DX
mailto: AA6DX@ARRL.NET
----- Original Message -----
From: "Merlin-7 KI4ILB" <merlin-7@sc.rr.com>
To: "Mike Rhodes" <weightdn@adelphia.net>; <TOWERTALK@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 3:50 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower mast..
OK I'm busted...
My budget is going to be very tight for a while after I move to the new
qth. I kinda put my foot down with the wife so that I can get the funds for
the tower but there is not much left over after that (unless the home I am
in now sells for a bit more than I think it will)
Most of you might know where I am going with this by now...
For a while I can see me turning the beams by hand. That should not be a
problem (just a pain in !$$) as the tower will be right next to my shack.
I could keep that set up and build a chain or gear driven rotor myself and
add it later. I know its better just to buy one but like most hams, I like
building stuff.
Joe
KI4ILB
> Maybe I"m overlooking something but, where does the rotor go once you
> have the mast sitting on a steel ball in the base of the tower?
>
> Mike / W8DN
>
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