I want to thank all who posted responses. Your input/opinions is/are
GREATLY appreciated. I have made changes to the 'Grand Plan' according to
the following summary.
1. The HAM IV is history. It could have handled the 'original' plan, but
(as was pointed out by many) the project outgrew the rotor. I now have a
Yaesu G-1000SDX to put up. This represents a compromise based on capability
vs. cost.
2. My idea of putting a 40m rotatable dipole on the mast also was deleted.
My TT'ers cited the additional tower windloading and the potential for
interaction/degradation due to close proximity for the different antennas.
I plan to try matching the TH7's boom and use that as a rotatable dipole.
(Experimentation, after all, is one of my interests and goals.) This poses
some other problems, but these problems can be minimized.
3. The TH7 will now be mounted one foot above the top of the tower. The
original proposed placement (5' above top of tower) was not a good idea...
even for a 'rookie'.
4. I still plan to use a 20' mast. Since I do not want to do this project
twice, I am going to use a 20' chromalloy mast. The A3WS will sit at the
top of the mast. This will provide approximately 13' or 14' of vertical
separation.
5. The remote coax switch WILL be placed near the base of the tower. It
did not take long for a non-climber to appreciate the logic behind this
change! Since the LMR-400 coax run to the antennas will be *relatively*
short, I may not use the remote switch at all... switching could be done
manually at the shack itself.
6. No one cited any potential adverse results by using the AN Wireless
tower. Those who checked the tower specs to confirm the tower's ability to
handle this amount of windload/weight were probably as surprised as I -- the
load specs for this structure are impressive. Therefore, I concluded that
my choice of tower was adequate.
Thanks again to all for your comments and suggestions.
gary b
k3gb
RVN BTO
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