[TowerTalk] Tilt antenna questions

K7LXC@aol.com K7LXC@aol.com
Sun, 24 Jun 2001 13:53:33 EDT


Howdy, TowerTalkians --

    Here's a question that has never been asked on TowerTalk before! They're 
pretty rare but nonetheless pop up occasionally.

    What I need to do is to tilt a KT34A from its normal horizontally 
polarized position to a vertical position. The antenna will be mounted on a 
UST crank-up and the antenna needs to be vertical when the tower is down so 
the antenna can be "stored" in a vertical position when it's not being used. 
The problem is due to the fact that the antenna hangs over the neighbor's 
property and the neighbor has asked that it not be over his property when 
it's not being used. 

    Okay. So what I've got is a moderately small triband antenna with a 3" 
boom. I want to use the Yaesu G-550 elevation rotator which has a boom 
capacity of 1-5/8" (1.625"). The options as I see them are: 1) convert the 3" 
boom to a 1-5/8" one or 2) put some sort of smaller boom splice in the KT34A 
so that the part of the antenna at the elevation rotator will fit thru it.

    Option 1 means that the 3" KLM insulated Lexan element brackets will 
either have to be scrapped or adapted to the smaller boomsize. Any ideas how 
to do either one?

    Option 2 means some 'cut-and-hack' work on the boom plus some machine 
shop fabrication but lets me use the rest of the existing boom and hardware. 

    Wadda ya think? Can you think of any other options? All input appreciated.

Cheers & tnx,    Steve    K7LXC
Tower Tech 

List Sponsor: Are you thinking about installing a tower this summer? Call us
for information on our fabulous Trylon Titan self-supporting towers - up to
96-feet for less than $2000! at 888-833-3104 <A HREF="http://www.ChampionRadio.com">
www.ChampionRadio.com</A>

-----
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com