[TowerTalk] Force 12 C49XR improving boom-mast attachment?

[david feldman]

Replying to your comments in-line:

>     I'd go ahead and pin the boom-to-mast clamp; as you mentioned a 2-inch
>mast doesn't give you much meat to hold that big of an antenna. What 
>antennas
>do you have above the big mutha?

A couple of long-boom VHF/UHF antennas, and a Cushcrap 40-2CD above
that (the last Cushcrap product I'll buy - works OK but after other products 
of theirs.........)

>     I think that the U-bolts above your pinning hole will provide some
>support above your stress riser mast hole. Arapahoe County is an 85 MPH
>windspeed zone so you're right to be careful.

Station is in Douglas County - slightly higher wind max, but you get the 
idea. I still skip a heartbeat each time driving up to the house seeing the 
excellent Force 12 aluminum up in the air...

>     Otherwise just recalibrate the antenna; several degrees ain't much - 
>you
>could even leave it until it gets worse. This will avoid any mast 
>compromises
>and is pretty cheap compared to any sort of failure.

I won't even do that until there is really obvious repeated movement - it 
hasn't moved (but no big winds since), I'll watch it....

>5, thus lowering the nut holding power by 20%. Double-nutting your U-bolts
>might fix the problem - it's worth a try before drilling anyway.

I don't know how much thread is exposed, but adding a set would help. I 
think mine is using the "5/8 inch" nuts as you note.

> > (I'm using a Prosistel "C"
> > box which has ramp-down control but I don't know if it does ramp-down
> > during manually controlled rotation or just during point-and-rotate.)
>
>     Please keep us informed on your experience with the Prosistel. What 
>are
>you using for a mast clamp? Which controller are you using? Wadda ya think 
>so
>far? Any installation problems? Any use problems?

On the prosistel (I get an amazing number of questions on this):

I'm using the "friction clamp" (an extra cost option) as I didn't want to 
drill the mast. That (clamp) worked just fine - very nice piece of 
mechanical work.

The controller now is the "C" version - the only bug I see (other than the 
miserable "keep the batteries charged" stupidity) is that it wants to turn 
past south when close to south and told in point-and-turn to go to the other 
side of south (hence risking the coax loops.) I think this may be an issue 
of limits settings, but I haven't solved it. I don't think this is a 
long-term issue but does require more time here.

The installation was miserable - I asked Joel at first call repeatedly about 
a proper 45G optimized mounting plate and he basically didn't respond. Very 
disappointed. Also very long delays getting the proper control box 
(multi-month back-order not handled well.) With the help of a friend we 
machined a standard Rohn 45G accessory plate and got it together (the 
Prosistel advice of repositiong the motor 90 degrees horiziontal IMHO very 
bad idea due to water instrusion risks thru the cooling vents.) I still 
think FC should invest the $$ in a 45G specific rotor plate (or modification 
of a Rohn product) to handle the integration.

That said, the rotator itself is very well done and I'd buy another one in a 
heartbeat, but I think first call is dodging their responsibility to help us 
45G users deal with the integration issues properly.

>
>Cheers,    Steve    K7LXC
>Tower Tech

Where are you (in the US)?

Dave

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