Well, I threw this out there thinking that maybe a few people might be
interested enough to bother wading through it. Seems that some TTers
can't resist commenting on the agonies of their peers. Summary of
comments follows:
A mechanical engineer stated that this was the funniest thing he has
ever read on TT. I believe (and I sure as hell hope I'm right) that he
meant that he enjoyed the story as opposed to the design being so
ridiculous that he was helplessly carrried away in laughter by the
hopelessness of the design succeeeding.
A W0 asked if an intro to a patent attorney would interest me. I can
only presume that my convoluted description is reminiscent of USPTO
patent applications. (Actually, I know them to be far worse. "Said
antenna is revolvably connected to said mast. ") The funny thing about
this comment is that I am paying the carpenter from some of the money I
received from a local company for whom I did some patent work. (30,000
patents reviewed for relevance. Wrote a significant portion of their 80
page core patent application. Application filed a few days ago with
USPTO. A substantial part of the reason why the C4 isn't already up
there.)
A K4 tells me he got LMR 400 for 30 - 35 cents/ft on e-bay. I have
never bought anything on e-bay (see the word "paranoid" in the title).
e-bay is in a foreign country. $0.35 there translates to $0.56 here,
not counting shipping. What happens if the stuff is full of water?
What recourse do I have? I am very suspicious about dealing with
unknowns in foreign countries.
A K9 in Florida expressed concern about the lack of attention paid to
lightning issues. Fortunately for me, lightning simply isn't an issue
here in Vancouver and can be ignored.
The same K9 expressed concern about the viability of the 1-1/4" tubing.
Hmmm...... When I wrote the story I realized, for the first time, that
I had made an assumption about the tubing that I hadn't checked. The
length of the tubing between the first lag bolt and the shackle to which
the guy turnbuckle will be attatached is about 18". Didn't seem like
much to me but didn't do the calculations. I very much appreciate that
someone would read the story sufficiently thoroughly to notice and,
having done that, take the trouble to point that potential oversight out
to me. Thank you Roger.
I don't think I mentioned it in my description but the existing 25 ft of
tower is, at the moment, self supporting with no guys whatsoever. The
first 7 ft are rigidly attached to the beefed up building as described
in a post to TT (Tower Building 201 or How I Beefed Up A Wall To Which A
Tower Is Bracketed 2002/09/03). We had the biggest wind of, I think, 25
years a few months ago. Two ft diameter trees laid right over on the
ground less than 5 blocks away. The top of the tower swayed maybe a
couple of inches. Be that as it may, the C4 has much higher wind
loading and the adequacy of the guy anchor tubing needs to be checked.
If it isn't adequate, well I might go to a higher strength tubing, I
might use solid bar stock or, I might go to a larger size. In any
event, I acknowledge that I haven't done my homework on this part but I
promise that I will.
A WA3 suggested I could pick up another dB if I put the connectors on
properly. Well, harrumph, I believe I've been putting connectors on
properly since before he was born. Then again, maybe he knows
something I don't (an astonishingly large number of people are in this
category), particularly with respect to LMR-400. Anything different
about this stuff compared to connecting RG-8 to PL-259s?
Someone who didn't give his call (naughty, naughty, Ken - ham etiquette
requires calls) wondered why I didn't choose 9913. Apart from local
availability questions, I was scared off it by a number of posts on TT
referring to its tendency to suck moisture through the outer sheath
which would then condense inside. I gather the Brits refer to it as
"hosepipe". Do a search for 9913 on TT for details.
I really appreciate all the comments/questions. What a marvellous resource
73 de Jim Smith VE7FO
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