Topband: Temporary antenna suggestion for 160

[w9zr at aol.com]

I used a similar to Rick's and raised and lowered it by myself.....EVERY DAY....for a few years.  It took less than 10 minutes once I got the hang of it.
During the winter I live in Florida in a community with very tight HOA restrictions.  The 60 foot Spiderpole worked out perfectly.
I set a short piece of steel pipe in concrete and slid the bottom section of the fiberglass pole on top of it.  While standing on a six foot step ladder I would raise each section and twist it in place.  This takes 2 minutes.  I did not use hose clamps to secure the sections since it was a temporary installation.  The friction of the sections is enough,  I also did not use guy wires as I would not extend the antenna if the wind was more than 10 mph.  The pole is very strong.
I had a small loading coil at the base and I would connect the vertical wire to the top of the coil via an alligator clip.  The two top load wires were extended and held to trees with a quick disconnect connector.
I did not have a lot of room for radials so I used plastic coated chicken wire for a radial system filling as much space as I had and then covered it with mulch.  I also had a few ground rods for lightning protection.
I deployed the antenna at sunset and removed it at sunrise.  No one ever knew that it was there.  I did have one funny incident.  I raised it normally one night when the wx was perfect.  The next morning we had a storm with high winds.  The winds put a lateral load on the vertical sections and they would not retract so it had to stay up until later that day.  In a neighborhood of single story homes it looked like it was 100 feet tall!  No one ever said a word about it.  I guess the rain and wind kept them indoors.
The Spiderpole is very strong and perfect for this application.  The key for ease of use is to keep the sections vertical and nested before raising them.
I no longer use this arrangement because I now use my home station in Ohio via remote but the Spiderpole kept me on the air and allowed me to work several new countries through some very large pileups.  Of course being in Florida made a big difference.  I think that Florida is a great location for low band DXing.
YMMV
73
Randy W9ZRIn a message dated 12/15/2019 10:51:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, richard at karlquist.com writes:



On 12/15/2019 6:52 PM, Chortek, Robert L. wrote:
> Easy!
> 
> Get a 60’ Spiderbeam Fibeeglaas pole. Run a wire up the side and top load it with two 44’ wires running out at 45 degrees or less.

> Mine was so easy to install I was able to it alone with any trouble at all in a few hours.
> 

> Bob AA6VB
> Robert L. Chortek

So Bob, tell us the technique you used to erect the pole
easily by yourself.

73
Rick N6RK
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