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[TowerTalk] Help on new Tower Installation planning and Feedlines

To: "Towertalk@Contesting. Com" <TowerTalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Help on new Tower Installation planning and Feedlines
From: Wendell Wyly - W5FL <wendell@wyly.org>
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:56:12 -0600
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
My interests are a small station contester and a dxer and have been  
doing this since 1955.  Appreciate any suggestions on planning for my  
new tower installation to be put in next month. Budget is approx  
$2000.  Distance from Transceiver to tower site is 375 feet.  Tower  
elevation is approx 35 feet above house and Tower is a used 64 foot  
Rohn 45 Foldover tower taken down from my last house two years ago  
and to be put back up to Rohn Specifications using the original guy  
lines and 4 guy posts and 2 el cubical quad 5 band antenna and rotator.

All wire and conduit is new. Plan to have two HF feedlines and one  
144/440 VHF feedline and 8 cond rotor cable for Hy Gain T2X Rotor and  
a 4 or more small gauge (#24) wires to control the antenna switching  
for 80,40 dipoles and 10/12/15/17 and 20 meter 2 el quad loops or  
maybe a better antenna.  Plan to use 360 foot 1 1/2 or 2 inch pvc  
conduit for the feedlines and 3/4 or 1 inch pvc conduit for the  
control lines to be buried about 12 to 18 inches.

Budget is kinda skimpy but always wanted to use 1/2 inch hardline due  
to low loss, but don't know if it pulls through conduit ok.  Trade  
off is LMR 400 or LMR600 or ???. The conduit run is 140 feet to a  
pull box and then 220 feet  for a total of 360 feet.  1500 Watts on  
HF and 50 Watts on 144/440 VHF. Looking at using preamp or two band  
amp/preamp on tower for 144/440 vhf due to long coax run, but unsure  
what kind works well and particularly how to power it through the  
conduit run from the house.

Is direct burial coax any better or worse than LMR type or hardline  
in pvc conduit?  Soil is both sandy and rocky. The site is rural and  
ups is preferred to truck shipments, so how do they ship hardline so  
it does not get damaged or it is worth fooling with for this  
installation?

Have never had any coax lightning arrestors, but was considering  
putting them on the coax lines and control lines at the house single  
point ground entry panel if I can find a reasonable cost solution and  
ground the coaxes at the tower base.  The house has both lightning  
rods and a good perimeter grounding system.

ANY and ALL suggestions and comments will be sincerely appreciated as  
will suggestions to keep the total costs of materials as low as  
practical.
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