Don't reinvent the wheel.. plenty of lights marketed for lighting Flag
poles. Ron, WV4P
On Sun, Oct 20, 2019, 9:53 AM David Robbins <k1ttt.dave@gmail.com> wrote:
> On my first tower I put up two halogen car fog lights sideways. They make
> a
> nice flat beam over something like a 45 degree angle so mounting them
> sideways puts a nice fan of light up a tower. they are probably available
> today with leds instead.
>
> David Robbins K1TTT
> e-mail: mailto:k1ttt@arrl.net
> web: http://wiki.k1ttt.net
> AR-Cluster node: telnet://k1ttt.net:7373
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> N1BUG
> Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2019 12:34
> To: towertalk reflector
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Illuminating antennas on towers
>
> I don't recall seeing this come up before so I may be the only person
> wanting to do it. It wouldn't be the first time. But before I go and invent
> a wheel which may turn out to be triangular, I wanted to see if anyone has
> a
> blueprint for a round wheel!
>
> I have two 100 foot towers. There are times when I want to be able to see
> the antennas at night, for example to see if the three wire top loading on
> the LF vertical is surviving a storm or to estimate how much ice is up
> there. Having grown tired of running out in storms with a powerful
> flashlight I want to install some kind of permanent lighting at or near
> ground level (preferably on a storage
> shed) which will shine upward and offer some illumination of the antennas.
> I
> don't need to turn night into day but I do need enough light to clearly
> make
> out the antennas. Most antennas are yagis. I don't expect to be able to see
> wires well but if I can spot insulators and the 1" aluminum tubes holding
> the LF top hat together that will be good enough.
>
> For one tower the light(s) would be pointed upward at a very steep angle
> (80
> degrees) to illuminate antennas 100-130 feet away while the for other it
> would be at an angle of perhaps 25 degrees to illuminate antennas some 200+
> feet distant. I am looking for any suggestions on what type of lighting
> might work well for this.
>
> It doesn't appear to me that typical 120V outdoor flood / spot light
> fixtures are sufficiently weatherproof to be safely pointed upward.
> They look as though they would make fine rain collectors that way.
> I've been looking at landscape lighting, but those seem to be low power
> units which may or may not get the job done at these distances. I thought
> about using sealed beam automotive headlights.
> That would surely get the job done well enough but if I want it to look
> nice
> there would be quite a bit of work in constructing a holder/mount.
>
> I should add that I would prefer this lighting not produce RFI. I have an
> ample supply of that already.
>
> So, has anyone done this? What did you use? Results?
>
> 73,
> Paul N1BUG
>
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