[TowerTalk] Newbie needs guidance

[K7LXC@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/11/01 5:15:21 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
tazanator1@home.com writes:

> Okay neighbor said I could have his old tower....( sectional all same size
>  tubing horizontal every foot up the tower) its, he says 55 feet.  I'ts
>  mounted 3 feet above ground on a telephone pole in a fold over set up with
>  guy wires and has not been moved (cranked down) in a few years.

    Well, I can't tell from your description what the heck kind of tower it 
is. How long are the sections? What's the distance across the face? What's 
the width of the legs (I'm assuming they're round legs)?
>  
>  Now I have no real money..but lots of play time.  I just got a tech ticket
>  in dec. and am studing for general. 

    Congratulations and welcome to ham radio! There are thousands of CB'ers 
who have gotten ham licenses and they're having more fun than they did 
before. 

>I like the 2 meter and used the CB alot
>  when I drove semi. So the tower will have;
>      TV ant.... UHF local (qty 2)
>      cb ant (antron 99)
>   and I think (haven't bought yet)
>       MFJ 1798 10 bander (75/80,40,30,20,17,15,12,10,6,2)
>       Diamond D-130J.  (scanner and 70cm)
>       A two meter beam setup on a rotor at the top. (haven't picked any yet)
>  I also plan on a pulley arm to add a wire ant later.....
>  
    Hmm, the MFJ 1798 is a "no radial" vertical. I doubt that the 
manufacturer wants it mounted that far off the ground. What does your manual 
say about mounting distance?

>  I plan on navel jelling the tower and repainting it (checking for bad
>  rust...IE holes) when it comes down. then using belden 8281 and 9913 coax 
to
>  hook it up before raising it up on my site.

    I'll guarantee you that this is A LOT OF WORK. I did it a couple of times 
and swore "never again". I spent as much for the spray cold galvanizing paint 
as I did for the tower. To say nothing of the TIME involved. Since you've got 
a lot of time available - GO NUTS!
>  
>  The questions are
>  1.  How deep of a hole do I drop the tower into and how wide a foot of
>  cement in that hole
>              (I have a 18"X18" by 5 foot deep started.....)
>  
    Don't have a clue. Please describe the tower in more detail.

    You can get some good inferences from the Rohn catalog if you use a 
"similar" tower as a reference. 

>  2.  do guy wires have to be used and if so can they be attached to a shed
>  and garage plus a 4X4                 elevated into the air (wife has to be
>  able to walk without hitting them and it has to "look pretty"

    Without knowing what kind of tower it is it's impossible to say if guy 
wires need to be used. If this is a guyed tower, no - a 4x4 is not adequate.

    Do you know what your county windspeed is? You can find out from  <A 
HREF="www.championradio.com">www.championradio.com</A>  under Tech Notes. You 
need to use that as your design windspeed. What county and state are you in? 

    It's obvious that you're not going to get a building permit. Since you're 
not going to have an engineer bless your installation, I'd go kind of slow 
until I had all the necessary information so you'll wind up with a reliable, 
safe installation. 
>  
>  3.  Are the ant's suffecent for a begining general ham and what is the best
>  way to set it up.
>          (I know the antron cb goes at a hieght of 32 feet will the MFJ work
>  under it)
>  
    ANY ANTENNA is sufficient to get started. Virtually everyone started out 
with some sort of funky wire or vertical antenna so go ahead and get started. 
It won't be too long before you realize how well - or not - it's all working. 

>  4.   can the Belden 8281 (TV) be used for any of the ham ant's

    Probably but I suspect it's 72 ohm coax whereas most all ham radios and 
antennas are designed around 50 ohm specs. You'll have a little more swr but 
it's not fatal. My question is "What are you going to do for connectors?" 
(I'm not familiar with this type of coax.)
>  
>  5.   If Guy wires are put in can they do duty as wire ant's or can wire
>  ANT's be hung off them?
>  
    Some people use their guy wires for antennas. Just put up the wires and 
see what happens. Some designs will work better than others. Jump in and see 
what you get. 

>  Any help and info would be great...(Ham Radio Outlet said to ask here)
>  
    They're right!

Cheers,    Steve   K7LXC
Tower Tech
Champion Radio Products

List Sponsor:  ChampionRadio.com - Trylon self-supporting towers,
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