I've been struggling with several scenerios, and decided to seek some help
from the well-educated group here.
Had a ticket for thirty-three years now and I'm pretty much a qrp guy,
operating at 1 watt much of the time SSB, CW, and PSK. I've used a lot of
different antennas in the past (including some big v-beams and Sterba
Curtains, etc.), but I've only had a couple of towers up. The first was a 40
foot 25G back when I first got my ticket in 1976, and the other one was a
W-51 crankup (only). The last was over 25 year ago, and I've been wire since
then.
A year ago, we bought nine acres northwest of San Antonio, and I set about
remodelling (and later, completely rebuilding) a home here. I would like to
put up a tower now for a 2 el quad, but since I experiment with antennas a
good bit, I would prefer it be relatively easy to access because even though
I've been up really high on some commercial towers and done a lot of work in
the 70-100 foot range, I am now 60 and through climbing.
My wife knows little about radio as a hobby, but she is all for something
that is self-supporting at whatever height I want (she would prefer no
guys). Can't argue with that, so I need some help figuring out what might
work best here. Conditions are:
+ 1800 feet up on the side of hill, with excellent takeoff in all directions
but due south (hill rises that direction).
+ Ground is virtually all rock, and by all, I mean ALL. With nine acres, we
have umpteen million rocks and large rock shelfs. When we moved a power
pole and ran the utilities underground, the trenches were cut into solid
rock. This definately impacts base design due to cost of the base hole
itself. On the plus side, the guy who did the trenching charges only $2 a
foot, so cutting 100 feet +/- for the coax run shouldn't be too bad. Cost
effective design to keep water out of the conduit could be an issue, as
there is no where for it to go once in the trench.
+ Once I remove some scrub cedar, there is plenty of room for the tower to
lay over for antenna work.
I found a High Gain 50' foot crankup locally with a rebar base setup and
what is likely a non-functioning electric winch for $1000 that looks
relatively new (but definately old stock that doesn't seem to have ever been
up). No rotor shelf or thrust bearing and I have no idea how difficult they
may be to obtain or what is a fair price for it.
I am open to all suggestions and information regarding types/brands of
tower, and offline if the moderator would prefer. but as with most of us,
overall cost is an issue. While I'd like a Big Bertha and monobanders for DC
to light, I simply want a 2 el quad I can lower to work on and some place to
hang some wire for the other bands. Anyone in the San Antonio are willing to
help locate and install a tower, please do let me know.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions and I apologize for the use of so much
bandwidth. Again, please contact me off list.
Michael Goins, k5wmg
Pipe Creek, Texas
Fast cars, slow boats, big dogs, and summers off to write
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