Other solutions would be a self supporting tower such as AN wireless if
they still sell to hams or Trylon. At under 50 ft it is easier to deal
with especially if you could get a man lift near it.
I have a 70 ft self supporting tower which is great but after gaining a
pile of weight, which I am trying to shed and getting older, I sure wish
I had opted for something else that would be easier to maintain. I will
be 55 years old so I am a spring chicken in Ham radio but once I turned
50 my desire to do tower work declined dramatically. When I was younger
it seemed I was on them daily and never gave it another thought.
A crankup tilt over we be amazing, but they are very expensive these days.
W0MU
On 6/29/2019 3:56 PM, Patrick Greenlee wrote:
Fear of climbing a crank up tower? Lower it all the way down and then
secure the nested tower so it can't go further down. No guillotine
effect to worry about. Tashjian makes various crank-up/tilt-over
towers. I have one that folds over at the 8 ft point and then is
about 18 ft 6 in to tower base horizontal distance. Tower is 70 ft
cranked up. A shorter version would need even less lateral clearance.
Adding a tilt accessory would allow folding over a large yagi such
that it would stay nearly horizontal and allow working on your antenna
with you standing on the ground. No tower climbing for antenna maint!
The Tashjians (father and son) are good to work with and have good
product. PDF catalog
http://www.tashtowers.com/docs/2015_Tashjian_Towers_Catalog.pdf
Patrick
On 6/29/2019 3:35 PM, Ken Bauer via TowerTalk wrote:
I’ve been on again, off again in amateur radio, and for the past year
have been on again with a vengeance! I am currently running a new
Flex & Maestro at 100w to an EFHW-8010 at 100ft. I love CW and DX and
may try my hand at contesting at some point. With this setup my noise
is quite low, S1 - S2 typically, I I can hear a lot more than can
hear me. More power will come, but I would rather have more
directionality first. I’ve never had a directional antenna before,
nor a tower of any sort.
I understand Santa Cruz Co. says that “Antenna Support Structures”
must be below 50’. I have been eyeing a SteppIR DB-18E, although it
might be tight in my clearing in the forest of about 50’ in diameter.
I could get the smaller DB-11 that would fit more comfortably,
although I hate to give up the gain on 40 & 30. Tree cover in the
area of the clearing is 120’ pines (hmm, maybe mount on top of one of
those?), coastal oaks at 40’, and youngish redwood trees on the
uphill property boundary. To get my clearing I’ll have to trim back
redwood branches, take out an 8” dia. madrone, and take out 2 or 3
fairly large pine branches. The site is up the side of a hill, 40’
elevation above the house, but another 40’ to the hill top on the
neighbor’s property. Access is poor for anything larger than a bobcat
or possibly a Deere tractor. Concrete will have to be pumped in.
I am reading and enjoying “Up the Tower”, which clued me to this
reflector - very useful book!
Obviously I can benefit from all sorts of guidance. To stir the pot a
bit here are some questions:
1. Is a crank up out of the question, given the location? Not sure
how to get it up a sandy/loose dirt hillside. I hear some will not
climb crank ups, afraid of guillotine effect... I don’t think I would
have room to do a tilt over.
2. Guyed or unguyed? Is the primary consideration the cost
difference? Looking at Rohn 65G 65SS050 as it says it can handle 29.3
sq ft antenna at 70mph & 19.7 sq ft ant at 80mph, 14.5 sq ft at
90mph. DB-18E is 12.1 sq ft. The antenna/tower location is on one
side of a saddle point and winter winds come whipping in sometimes
during storms. Once had a micro tornado or something that ripped the
live top out of one of the coastal oaks and carried it 25’ leeward.
Don’t know that any tower would hold up to that, top branch was 6 -
8” in diameter.
Given the tight space, hauling the antenna straight up next to the
tower without having to wig-wag or use a rather tight tram-line, not
having guys seems an advantage.
3. Am going into the county offices on Tuesday on another matter, and
thought perhaps I would begin investigating the Antenna Structure
Permitting process. Advice? How prepared in advance should I be?
4. There’s a lot of additional safety equipment, tools, parts, etc.
that goes along with this erection process. Am I better off finding a
company to do this for me? I’m pretty handy, and also like climbing,
I’ve done indoor rock climbing for many years - I just figured that
improving / maintaining / fiddling with things would be non-stop once
it was erected.
5. What am I likely overlooking?
Thanks everyone for your insights,
Ken WC6Y
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