Roger,
A local ham W0YG had one up at around 100 feet before he decided to
retire and move to a condo. It was a flamethrower, for sure. I saw it
on the ground when I stopped in to pick up some tower sections he was
selling. It is a monster antenna and not for the faint of heart. I have
an older version EF 620/340 force 12 duo bander for 40 and 20 on a 44
foot boom, and the tribander is even bigger than my duobander. If I
recall, the boom is 3 inch diameter.
With correct tramming technique, I have been able to raise and lower the
duobander with one additional helper. Not sure I could do that with the
C49XR.
The choice depends on what you plan on using the antenna for. I am
mainly a contester, but I am also a DXer in between contests. If I had
the 5500 to spend on the C49XR I would spend a few hundred dollars more
and buy two C31 XR's instead and stack them. I've got a three stack of
KT36XA's at 30/60/90 feet plus the duobander 40/20 at 120 feet. Kind of
the best of both worlds. If I could only have one or the other, I would
take the stack. Having the ability to switch between antennas at
different elevations is a real asset for contesting. You'd be surprised
at how often the XA at 60 feet will beat out either of the higher
antennas, especially for 20M into Europe in the summer.
Charlie (W0YG) had a star bracket on his tower to handle the huge amount
of torque generated by the C49XR. I have a star bracket on my Rohn 45
tower with the duobander and an Orion 2800 turning it.
The C31XR's don't need as beefy of rotator and you wouldn't need the
star bracket. Of course, you'd need to purchase a ring rotor of some
sort for the lower C31, so the overall cost might be higher.
73
Randy K0EU
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