Noel,
I respectfully disagree. If someone asks about how to rotate
a particular antenna, don't you think it would be appropriate,
and, in fact, expected that people might share their experience
with various commercial antenna rotators? Sure you can
build your own grounding blocks, but you still have to buy the
MOV's. How on earth do you expect for people to carry on
intelligent and meaningful conversations about tower and
antenna construction without mentioning various commercial
suppliers from time-to-time? I could understand your discomfort
if advice was riddled with shameless plugs by an agent of
a vendor with a clear conflict of interest, but I haven't see any
of that here. No matter how frugal or resourceful we think of
ourselves, we are all constantly performing "make/buy"
decisions where we oftentimes chose to buy value added
items in order to save ourselves a little time in our projects
(how many people make their own transistors or tubes?).
When you pay $50 for those grounding blocks, keep in
mind that you are paying for more than the material and
labor needed to manufacture them. You are also paying for
the companies experience base which in the case of ICE
and Polyphaser probably extends over tens of thousands of
commercial and amateur antenna/tower installations. This
experience includes all the hard lessons learned through
evaluating failures and customer returns (lots of fried radios).
That is not to say that every commercial manufacturer of
amateur equipment does good engineering. There is a lot
of junk out there too, but that's why we have forums like
Towertalk so that we can share our experiences and
hopefully avoid other people's mistakes.
Shameless plugs - NO. Honest advice about commercially
available solutions - YES.
Good luck with your project.
73 de Mike, W4EF...............................................
----- Original Message -----
From: "Noel" <yaesurig@msn.com>
To: "'Carl Smidt'" <xveoneov@sprint.ca>
Cc: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 10:11 PM
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Grounding control cable/Rotator control box
> Carl,
> You may be surprised to know that there have been numerous replies
> suggesting different methods without pushing one product or another.
> There's a big difference between hams sharing know-how and using the TT
> reflector as just another advertisement medium. If I want commercial
> advertisements I can just use Google.
>
> And I dare say, if you really believe there's anything in those little
> gizmos you buy for $50, that I can't make myself from any Radio Shack
> and my garage for less than half the price then you really under
> estimate good old American know how.
>
> Regards
> Noel
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Smidt [mailto:xveoneov@sprint.ca]
> Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 12:54 PM
> To: Noel
> Cc: towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Grounding control cable/Rotator control box
>
>
> How do you expect to get any advice if people cannot give you the
> description and suggested source of the sought for device(s).
>
> I am quite sure that you cannot easily manufacture the required
> grounding blocs yourself????
>
> 73, Carl VE9OV (Somewhat perplexed)
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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