Hi Jeff,
Thought I'd put my two cents in here too. I have a South River 9-ft tripod
peak roof mounted tower on my home. It appears to be a heavy duty TV type
and a fraction of the cost of the GM tower. I didn't care for the plated
bolts that held the structure together so I replaced all with stainless
steel. VERY SMART MOVE. I also didn't like the way it started rusting
badly so I wire brushed the hell out of it and coated everything with red
lead and some blue enamel. Looks great.
This tower has no clearance at the top to mount a thrust bearing so I just
managed to install a ten foot section of I-1/2" ( I.D.) water pipe ( no
flames please ) inside resting on a piece of angle iron that is straddling
the leg braces. Of course everthing is U-bolted for rigidity.
Sitting atop the ten foot water pipe which projects about 2-1/2 ft above the
tower is a HyGain-CDE Ham IV Rotor turning a Mosley TA-33 (20-15-10) beam
(about 6-inches above the rotor)....and about five feet above that is a
Cushcraft R-5 vertical. The South River tripod tower is BOLTED through the
roof and through 2 x 4 cross braces between the rafter joists. All the
above has survived the last winter with no sweat. Prior to the TA-33/ R-5,
I had a triband cubical quad on that tower. An ice storm turned the quad
into a pretzel. Best damn antenna I ever had!
In a recent posting someone cautioned you NOT TO SCREW THE TRIPOD INTO THE
ROOF! Let me second that thought. Use BOLTS AS DESCRIBED ABOVE. I
recently lost three antennas and a roof mounted 30-ft push-up mast because
the SCREW-EYE guy anchor points pulled out of the roof in a big wind.
STUPID...STUPID....STUPID!
I don't know if South River is still in business or making that roof mounted
tower but if they are... I highly recommend it for your application. I can
stand on it as high up as I can get my little feet and it doesn't budge.
Sure wish it could be modified to take a thrust bearing to mount the rotor
inside the tower near the bottom. But what do you want for under fifty
bucks....I guess that's what I paid for it new many years ago.
Good luck with your tower search.
Roger, K2JAS
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