Which 40m Beam?

[K8DO at aol.com]

Hello John....
A couple of thoughts come to mind....
Given your windy, cliff edge site you need an antenna that is 'bullet
proof'...They are available from commercial antenna vendors, but
they cost big $$.... John Devoldere, ON4UN has his new book out
"Antennas and Techniques for low-Band DXing"... In it he has des-
igned and built a 3el Yagi for 40 which will take 100MPH winds....I
am in the process of building  similar units...Even at 'no discount'
prices for the aluminum tubing and hardware, the cost is under 
$1000 U.S. ...  A two element version will drop the price by a third..
These are full size, no compromise antennas and will serve your 
group well for CONTESTING....
With a group for bargain hunting, you should be able to
reduce  the cost of materials....

As for the rotator, I would hunt the used machinery dealers
for a 1 RPM gearbox and electric motor... Farm implement dealers
are also a source..The disadvantage, is that you have to change or 
revise the motor to allow reverse rotation, if it is a non reversible
unit, but the cost savings can be considerable....With hi voltage AC
motors you could run low voltage up the tower and put a transfor-
mer at the rotator to raise the voltage to the proper level...

Just some thoughts.... Cheers  de Denny -  k8do at aol.com