[TowerTalk] Tower Attachment

[Bill Coleman]

On 4/16/03 9:34 AM, Tim, N9PUZ at n9puz at arrl.net wrote:

>I'm gathering materials and data to install about 45 feet of tower at one 
>end 
>of my two-story home. I plan to use a house bracket bolted through the 
>outside wall and into the attic area where it can be securely fastened.

Important questions. What height will the brackets be? If you study the 
Rohn catalog, they pretty much recommend using more than one bracket, 
although if the top bracket is below 15 feet and the tower is embedded in 
concrete, there's probably little need.

>The home has vinyl siding. I'm looking for suggestions on how to keep the 
>place where the bracket goes against the outside wall looking nice and kept 
>watertight.

On my bracketed installation, I have one bracket at 17 feet and another 
at 26 feet. The 17 footer is lag bolted into the rim joist. I machined a 
2x6 to the exact slope of my siding (minus 5 degrees) to give the bracket 
a flat area to brace against. There's a limit to how tight you can 
tighten here, not the least of which is the fact that lag bolts aren't 
the best choice. However, the foam board behind the siding will compress 
as you tighten, so don't torque down too much if you use this technique. 
It's fine for the lower bracket.

For the top bracket, I used a pneumatic cut-off wheel and removed the 
siding at the top of the wall. A 2x6 was fitted into this opening right 
up against the top plate of the wall. Carriage bolts come through from 
the inside. This provides a solid, secure mount for the bracket.

The 2x6 used here were carefully painted the same white color as the rest 
of the trim. I think it looks pretty good. Silicone caulk is used around 
the edges of the 2x6 trim.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901