[Towertalk] An idea...oh boy

[Jon Ogden]

on 10/13/02 12:45 AM, Jason Hissong at jhisson1@columbus.rr.com wrote:

> I think I found a good compromise solution for my tower quest.  The city
> wants me to go through alot to get the permits and being that I am a casual
> DXer and contester, I really don't want to spend the $3000.00 to get this
> thing installed (and the trouble of the city).  The city says that I can
> install a retractable tower that when retracted must be below my house
> height (19') and when extended, no higher than 35'.

Jason,

A better idea for you yet:

Glen Martin (www.glenmartin.com) makes some awesome roof tripods.  You
should be able to easily put up a roof tripod w/o any city permit.  In fact,
that is one where you could easily follow the "it's better to ask
forgiveness than ask permission" philosophy.  People put roof structures up
all the time for their TV antennas w/o permits.

These roof towers come in a variety of heights up to around 20 feet or more
I think.  They have an 8 foot model and a 9 foot model that are both really
nice.  They don't need guys and are extremely sturdy.  The cost of the 9
foot is around $350 if I am not mistaken.

The roof tower bit works really well.  Until I put my 55 feet of R25G up a
few weeks ago, that is the same concept I used for years.  I have a 14 foot
roof tripod that held my TA-33, a 440 beam and a 2m vertical.  I have done
very well with that setup including working probably 200 countries and
scoring a couple million points in the CQ WPX SSB contests.  You can see
that setup on my web page (www.qsl.net/na9d).

The problem with your idea is that you limit yourself to just the Hexabeam.
What if you want something different?  What if you want to add some VHF or
UHF stuff, etc.

Got with a roof tower and since you don't like heights find a ham in your
area who doesn't mind them and have him help.

73,

Jon
NA9D

-------------------------------------
Jon Ogden
NA9D (ex: KE9NA)

Life Member: ARRL, NRA
Member:  AMSAT, DXCC

http://www.qsl.net/ke9na

"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."