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Re: [TowerTalk] Camouflage Painting of Towers

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Camouflage Painting of Towers
From: David Gilbert <xdavid@cis-broadband.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2015 12:31:17 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>

Check out

http://ab7e.com/AB7E_Tower_Page_8.html

http://ab7e.com/AB7E_Tower_Page_11.html

http://ab7e.com/AB7E_Tower_Page_15.html

Exterior grade latex paint sticks well to hot dipped galvanized steel. The application you see on those pages was done seven years ago and is still in excellent shape here at 5000 feet ASL here in southern Arizona (LOTS of UV exposure).

Flat paints are best.

Dark colors are best. Just look at various structures around you, especially at a distance. In general, dark objects are the least objectionable or even noticeable. Don't try to match the blue sky with a light blue color on the tower ... that's a rookie mistake that I once made in my youth with quad spreaders.

Mottled colors are best. Try to break up geometric shapes by applying colors in more or less random shapes and sizes. Try to match the size of the blobs of colors to the general size and shape of whatever is in the surrounding area. I used streaks and sections of dark green, light brown, and black to try to match the tree foliage, grass (which is dry here most of the year), and shadows on the hillside behind my tower. Don't make the color blobs too small or they will just blend in from a distance and destroy the goal of altering the geometric shape of the tower.

I've gotten many compliments from neighbors who say they never even notice my tower since it isn't outlined against the sky from below and doesn't stand out against the hillside behind me. I've even had ham friends visit who weren't able to spot my tower until they got close enough to see it against the sky.

By the way, I also painted my Optibeam antennas with similar colors, although I used spray paint for that and it hasn't held up as well. Before I did, though, I modeled the antennas in EZNEC+ with and without a thin dielectric on the elements to make sure there wasn't any shift in parameters. Once the antennas were up, the SWR and pattern plots matched what I had been given by Optibeam so I'm reasonably confident that the paint doesn't affect anything. It's not easy to get paint of any sort to stick to bare aluminum, though, so that part gets kind of dicey.

Check out the first picture on this page ... it shows the tower with two large antennas on it. Most people would have a hard time even finding it unless they knew what they were looking for. The situation would be different without the hillside for a backdrop, of course, but I still think that the dark colors are mitigation on visual impact.

http://ab7e.com/AB7E_Antenna_Page_5.html

Hope some of this helps.

73,
Dave  AB7E


On 4/21/2015 4:52 PM, Fred Kleber wrote:
Hi List,
Does anyone have before & after photos of lattice towers that have been painted 
to 'match' the background of terrain / trees behind them?  If so, could you please 
send me a 'before' and 'after' photo, as well as the type of paint you used?  Any 
other comments, suggestions, ideas, etc. you have would be also appreciated.
Thanks & Very 73,Fred, K9VV
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