My opinion follows (your smileage may vary):
I think a crank-up tower is overkill for a 2 element quad at less than 60
feet.
If not wanting to climb was my only driving force, I would investigate the
possibility of hinging the present tower at it's base and permanently
erecting a gin pole equiped with a winch to make it easier to lay the tower
over for maintenance purposes. This would require 4 way guys positioned
such that two of the lines would be in the plane of the hinges at the base
and would tilt with the tower to keep it from swiveling around the base
during the raising/lowering operation. An ounce of guy lines are worth a
ton of concrete. Just drop the guy line on the gin pole side and tip her
over.
And if I really didn't want to mess with the aluminum tower I would erect a
40 foot crank-up tubular tower, with an erection fixture, in a new hole at
least as far away from the old hole as the new hole is deep. The concrete
base specifications I have read (not many) refer to "previously undisturbed
soil". Which means it has to be even further away from any basements. When
I located the base of the tower I would make sure that I can lay the tower
over with the quad attached and clear of any and all present and future
landscaping and/or buildings. The last thing I want to do is remove a quad
from a tower for maintenance purposes.
But if I really wanted to improve my DXing, I would erect a 72 foot crank-up
with monoband yagis in addition to the 40 footer. And that is exactly what
I did. I have a Force 12 C-3 on a 35 foot shorty tower (hinged at the base
and I use a gin pole to tip it over) and stacked monoband yagis on my 72
foot crank-up for the DX. Usually the C-3 works best on stations within a
couple of thousand miles of my QTH and the monobanders work best on the ones
further away. I don't see much difference in performance between the
antennas when the monobanders are at 55 feet and below, but at 60 feet and
above there usually is a lot of difference. And the difference can range fr
om not being heard on one of the antennas to 10 dB over S9 on the other, and
everything in between, and favoring either antenna. I really like having
the antennas at both heights and being able to switch between them.
de Paul, W8AEF
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Ogden" <ogden@us.ibm.com>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2002 1:08 PM
Subject: [Towertalk] Changing towers
>
> I put up a 40' free standing aluminum tower last last year, with a
> 2-element quad on top. The tower was easy to walk up and seems to be
> exactly what was advertised.
>
> The problem is that, as the years have passed, I find I am no longer a
> climber --- even for a little 40' tower. In retrospect, I should have
gone
> for a crankup (with the lifting/tilting device, as well). I am trying to
> estimate how much hassle there would be in changing towers. My target
> would be the U.S. Towers 55', three-section crank up.
>
> I currently have about 2.75 yards of concrete in the ground, in an
> irregular 3 x 4' pattern, about 4-5' deep. Could I use this as the base
> for the crankup? I would cut off the current mounting leg connectors,
> drill fairly deep holes in the concrete and use construction epoxy to hold
> the new mounting bolts for the crank-up. Should I pour more concrete next
> to the current mass (and maybe drill a few connecting rebar holes to link
> the two "pours" together)?
>
> Bill
> W2WO
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
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