I'm in the market for a tower, and would be interested in hearing suggestions for good suppliers and models worth considering. Here's what I'm hoping to find: n Support for a single yagi: OptiBeam O4
After a multi-year battle with the city, I am finally in the process of drawing up plans for a tower that have a decent chance of being approved. The tower height will be about 9m above immediate gro
Is there a good rule-of-thumb for how many ground rods to use for a tower, and how deep they should be? Does the diameter of the rods make any difference? Is it worth keeping grounds for lightning pr
I understand that rotators are not designed to handle lateral loads, and that I should therefore have the rotator on one shelf, then a second shelf above that with a radial support bearing on it, to
I'm interested in suggestions for how to best segment the coax running between my shack and tower-mounted antenna. I'm thinking of something like this: (1) from shack to the base of the tower through
Actually, ferrites are relatively inexpensive as imports go. I get them from Mouser (great company to deal with; highly recommended). My last order was a few years ago. For 22 x 2.4-inch #31 toroids,
Speaking of toroids, can someone point me to a good set of design rules for true current-type (multi-core) baluns / impedance transformers, of the type you might use to match a range of dipole-type a
I'm looking for a lateral load bearing to use with the upper support plate for the mast on my tower. Array Solutions carries one that's intended to work with a 2" mast (2 1/16" opening), though it's
With a tower in-place that doesn't have enough height to stack a second beam, and without another high spot to use for something like an elevated dipole, what are some good options for a second anten
The tower will be 8.5m above immediate ground level, near the top of a hill on a relatively steep slope facing the ocean. 10m away, the ground drops to 16m below the top of the tower. The location is
Current pricing for the AIM4170C (0.1 to 170MHz) is US$545 from Array Solutions. The AIM also does TDR, and reports both the magnitude and sign of the complex component of impedance -- very handy for
I think the search keyword you're looking for is "PTFE" -- the generic name for Teflon. One source for spools of the stranded, heavy-gauge, silver-plated variety is bulkwire.com. 73, Rick ZL2HAM I'm
How do you figure out how much coax and control cable to put between your rotator and the antenna? How do you secure those cables on both the tower side and at the antenna? What kind of coax do you u
I have a 140 ft run of 4-yr old LMR-400 that I'm about to move from one antenna to another (160m to 6m). It shows some odd-looking TDR traces on my AIM, so I thought I'd test it to make sure it's sti
I was talking today with the contractor who will be installing my mini-tower regarding the ground rods and connections between them. The smallest cadweld molds he has are for #35 cable (about 1cm dia
My new tower project is moving ahead nicely. All major parts have arrived, including the tower itself (a custom 8.5m x 0.2m diam galvanized pole). Now it's just a matter of finishing the construction
My new tower is up; craned it into place and poured the concrete foundation yesterday. Looks great so far. I've posted a build log with a few pics and videos on the qrz.com forum (click on the pics f
I finished building my antenna (UltraBeam UB-50) and installing it on the tower yesterday. Everything went reasonably smoothly. I tried to align the boom with true north before bolting it to the mast
Thanks for the replies so far -- as I said in my OP, I know how to find true north. I already went through the compass/declination/rough-alignment when I first put the antenna up. I know about the sh
How often do you go to the top of your tower and do maintenance on the antenna, rotator, coax, antennas, etc? Just when something breaks? Or more often? When you get up there, do you have a set routi