I never considered having a tree climber put up my antenna, I just did it
myself. We had a 140' Douglas fir about 20' outside the kitchen. I bought a
climbing belt (with the leg straps so it can’t ride up and suffocate you if you
fall), put two safety ropes on it with snap rings, so I would always be tied
off. No free climbing for me! I topped about 20' of the tree with a sharp
limb saw. Not interested in using a chain saw up a tree.
The top now at around 120' was about 10" in diameter. I strapped a top section
of Rohn 25 to the side of the tree top, using big perforated galvanized straps
and aluminum angle stock. I practiced with a small tree at ground level until
I was happy with the attachment. Once the tower top was on, about 1/2 of it
above the cut off tree top, I installed a Yaesu G-1000 at the tower base, with
a 10' mast sticking up through the 2" ID sleeve at the tower top. I installed
my Cubex quad on it, set up for 5 bands. It worked great for almost 25 years
until the tree died, probably due to our having built the house too close to
the tree and taking out a huge chunk of its root system when we dug our
foundation. There were other suitable trees near the house, but by then I was
near 60 and had had multiple revisions of my artificial shoulder. So I didn’t
think it wise to keep climbing. My wife agreed! I went to a UST HDX-589
crank-up with a poured concrete foundation. But during its heyday I called
that tree my Bionic Tower! If some young whippersnapper wants details, I have
diagrams and photos.
73,
Steve
N6SJ
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces@contesting.com> On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2020 2:01 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Galvenized Monopole Foundation
On 8/5/2020 1:34 PM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:
> One of the local hams here had a big (~100+ ft) tree "topped" and had
> a tower section installed as you described, so he could put up a
> rotatable Yagi. He would tell us about all the hassles of training
> lumberjacks to do installation and maintenance.
> I guess a crane couldn't get in to the forest.
Right. That's NI6T, well known DXer and contester. Years ago when I was
considering that idea, he talked me out of it for the reasons noted.
Think of it this way -- if you hire someone to climb a tower, it's very likely
that he knows what to do when he gets up there. Tree climbers are clueless, and
in my experience, not teachable.
73, Jim K9YC
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