Happy Holidays to the group. Tower maintainance time down here in Florida
with the cooler weather, no storms or lightning. I did take a lightning
strike this summer which may have hit the tower in my back yard. I'm certain
it hit the concrete foundation of my home in the back yard about 20 feet
from the tower because ceramic tiles in the back bedroom (where the radio
gear is located) were destroyed along the baseboard along with about an 8
inch wide by 4 inch by 2 inch deep hole in the concrete floor!
Suffice it to say as part of the 'maintainance' I'm replacing the coax on my
antennas -- the tower is a triangular steel tower of about 52' high that
cranks down and tilts over on about a 10' steel pipe base. Not sure of the
make because I got it from a silent keys estate. I have a 3 element
tribander at the tower top, with a 10 element 440mhz yagi about 5 feet above
that, and a 19 element 2 meter beam about 5 feet above the 440 mhz beam
(about a 10' mast). I had been taking the coax bundled together down the
tower to a PVC standoff about 4 feet from the tower and then down to the
remote coax switch at 5' about ground level.
Now my question: Is it better from any standpoint ( lighting, rf,
whatever...) to simply bring the coax bundle directly down alongside the
tower...ie, not use the 4 foot standoff any longer?
Also, whilst I'm asking...is it better to not break the guy wires (yes, I do
have the tower guyed at about 25+ feet and at the top around 46 feet with a
torque bracket). Something I've read at Polyphaser seems to make me believe
that I can ground those guy wires at the anchor points and benefit from the
guys helping to dissipate a direct lightning strike to the tower should it
happen again.
Lastly, is there any benefit to moving the 3 element tribander to the top of
the mast and positioning the 19 element 2 meter beam lowest on the mast? I'd
be getting another 8 feet in height for the tribander...putting it somewhere
near 58 or so feet up. ( I have a pretty stout thrust bearing in the tower
now).
Thanks for the help....I've learned a bunch since subscribing to the group,
a very knowledgeable bunch of hams!
bill
KC9CS
.
AN Wireless Self Supporting Towers are now available! Windloading tables,
foundation diagrams and charts, along with full details are now at the
AN Wireless Web site: http://www.ANWireless.com
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