[TowerTalk] Homemade tubular

[Jepilot at aol.com]

I believe what you are describing is not only practicable, it has been done 
many times before.  QST, years ago (at least 25years) had a how-to-do article 
on this type of tower which incorporated used oil field pipe.  It also had a 
tilt-over feature which made it very easy to install the antenna at the top.  
A base pipe about 20 or 25 feet long was buried in concrete to about 6 or 7 
feet and the tower was attached at the top at its balance point.  A winch was 
installed on the base pipe where the bottom of the tower contacted the base.  
With the tower balanced, the weight of the beam allowed it to swing over and 
it could then be pulled vertical with the winch.

The one I saw moved slightly in the wind which is to be expected.  The main 
objection to this type of tower probably is the mounting of the rotator if 
you put a yagi on top.

 I would like to build this type of tower just to raise and lower wire 
antennas for 160 and 80 meters.  I think I could go to 100 feet since only 
wires would be used, not a yagi or other attachment with a higher windload.  
I did a search on the web using Google last night looking for the OD and ID 
of aluminum irrigation pipe but found nothing helpful.  If you run across any 
articles or design data, please let me know.  Good luck es 73.

Jan Rehler, W5KNZ, Corpus Christi, Texas