I use standoffs and, at least in the Sonoran dessert, they are at least
"useful" if not "necessary".
Since I usually bring my tower down "a ways" from the top when not there,
there's slack cable around. At least twice I've had the looser coax be
blown all over the tower base and (had I raised the tower from the shack)
it would have badly snagged on something.
For me, in the winds I've so far seen at lowering events, it seems to help
keep the coax in place.
In fact, I'm trying to dream up another standoff loop about 10 feet up the
tower, which probably stops the snagging at the base from happening. I
only need to get a decent design that doesn't do more harm than good.
I do let the the coax dangle down within the standoffs, and I also took
some care at the top to have some strain relief where the cables make the
bend before what would be, at max extension, a 72 foot drop. An ordinary,
heavy duty "right bracket" did the trick. I simply attached the cables to
the right angle and the "top" of the angle is pinned, along with the coax,
to the standoff arm. Hopefully, that will keep the coax from flexing too
much at the top or having a tightening bend that could move the center
conductor in the teflon over time.
The remote head probably is a waste of money overall. It might be useful
for lowing the antenna for an approaching thunderstorm when you don't want
to stand next to your lightening rod. But, yeah, for sure when raising it,
you want to be next to the tower. I kept the coax from snagging and
breaking at least once.
Larry WO7R
On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 4:39 AM, <kr2q@optimum.net> wrote:
> I have owned crank-up towers for close to 40 years...in multiple locations
> and using
> multiple types of crankup towers (Heights, Hy-Gain, US Tower). I still
> own 2 crank-ups.
>
> In all cases, I just let the coax and rotor cable "hang down" right along
> side of the tower.
>
> I never used standoffs or coax arms. Not sure why they are necessary.
>
> Nothing ever got tangled or "hung up" in the tower. I think that would be
> really difficult to do.
> I mean, why would coax (eg, RG8 type) want to or be able to "decide" to
> bend and enter into
> the tower lattice? It is already handing from the very top to the very
> bottom. For me, it would
> take an extraordinary act of nature to "convince" the coax to defy
> gravity, bend into a small
> loop, and "enter" the tower lattice.
>
> de Doug KR2Q
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>
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