[TowerTalk] Taller tower, shorter mast or vice versa?

Thu Jul 22 02:01:05 EDT 2004

Although most hams told me not to bother with getting a tower permit from
the City, I went ahead and applied for one for my Rohn HDBX48 tower. I had
a neighbor across the street that was very unhappy just seeing my Butternut
vertical antenna on the roof. I knew that the new tower and 2-element quad
being put up might push him over the edge. I also met with a local ham
attorney who helped draft the local City tower ordinance (no height
restrictions, but it must make 80 MPH sustained wind loading for the entire
structure - this eliminates almost all crankup towers.) I consider him a
local expert on matters of towers, ordinances, etc., and he assured me that
I had nothing to worry about with the neighbor since everything would be in
order with all of the inspections, City tower requirements, etc.

The neighbor never spoke to me again, just gave me glares and dirty looks
after the antenna and tower were installed. He finally moved away and
another neighbor took his place. He too didn't like looking at the antenna,
and tried to rally some of the neighbors to sign up to get the City to have
it taken down. He called the building department and found out that I had a
permit for the tower. I understand that he almost had tears in his eyes.
That put an end to that potential problem.

Why do people move out near car race tracks, airports, radio staions and
amusement parks and then gripe about the noise, traffic or the visual
impacts? Surely nobody twists their arms...

During the tower construction project, the City building inspector came out
to inspect the hole and rebar cage before the concrete pour, and signed off
the required inspection forms. After the concrete had been poured and cured
for about a month, the tower, rotator and quad were installed, and another
inspector came out for the final sign-off inspection. This day just
happened to be one of those "bring your son to work with you" days, and he
had his 15-year old son sitting in his car while he signed off the project.
Just before he left, the inspector asked, "How far can you talk on this
thing?" Of course, I had to say "all over the world!" I asked him if he'd
like to come in and see the station that was hooked to this antenna, and he
said "Yes! Can I bring my son, too? He's out in the car." 

I had them both come in and fired up the rig on 20 Meter Phone and pointed
the quad over the North Pole towards Europe, knowing that when you want to
put on a serious demonstration, the sunspots usually just seem to disappear
or there's a big solar flare. I ran into an EA6 calling CQ, with a slight
fluttery signal and enough of a "foreign sounding" accent to know that it
was not a local signal. I called him and he came right back, and I pointed
out on the world map on the wall just where EA6 (Balearic Is.) was located.
They were most impressed, and seemed happy that they had a chance to be the
lucky ones visiting on this final inspection day.

None of the inspectors ever did try to measure anything, they just seemed
interested in making sure that it was a safe installation and done
according to the Rohn installation drawings.

Sometimes you do get lucky!

Larry K7LJ

(no, I didn't bury a prize QSL in the concrete, and I still got my #1 Honor
Roll with it. Now I have to take this all down right away and find a
"serious" tower for the new house which is way out in the country.)

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Jim Chaggaris jimc at pwrone.com
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 22:32:56 -0500
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Taller tower, shorter mast or vice versa?

Ah yes...But most inspectors aren't the brightest bulb in the
chandelier....I know, I'm dealing with these goofs right now.

73's

Jim KJ9A

-----Original Message-----
From: Gene Smar [mailto:ersmar at comcast.net]
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 9:43 PM
To: jimc at pwrone.com; TowerTalk; Alan AB2OS
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Taller tower, shorter mast or vice versa?

Jim et al:

     If I were the inspector, I'd count tower sections.  No need to climb.
FWIW.

73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Chaggaris" <jimc at pwrone.com>
To: "TowerTalk" <towertalk at contesting.com>; "Alan AB2OS" <ab2os at att.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 8:18 PM
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Taller tower, shorter mast or vice versa?

>
>
> I would put up the 70' tower...Tell the inspector if he wants to verify
the
> height to get a tape measure and...START CLIMBING!"
>
> 73's
>
> Jim KJ9A
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Alan AB2OS
> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 5:46 PM
> To: towertalk reflector
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Taller tower, shorter mast or vice versa?
>
>
> The township rules permit an antenna/tower/mast up to a max. of 70'
> without a permit. I have settled on AN Wireless as my preferred tower
> manufacturer, and their towers are in multiples of 10'. Thus a 60' tower
> with a mast extending the remaining 10' gives me only 10' within which
> to mount all my antennas -- or less, since I wouldn't want an antenna
> immediately at the top of the tower. All I intend to put up at first is
> a 3-el. SteppIR (which I *might* perhaps upgrade to a 4-el. later), and
> perhaps a 2m/70cm beam, so for now that 10' mast is sufficient, but who
> knows what I might decide to put up later?
>
> Would it be preferable to get the 50' tower and a mast extending a
> further 20'? The mast would obviously have to be something rather
> substantial (chrome moly?), so there would be little cost saving over
> the taller tower and the shorter mast.
>
> Have other people wrestled with this question, and what decision was
> reached?
>
> Note: AN Wireless' surface area/wind loading specs already allow for the
> antennas being mounted up to 10' above the top of the tower. If I went
> with 20' of mast, I'd mount the SteppIR at about the 10' level and the
> smaller antenna(s) above that.
>
> Alan AB2OS
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
any
> questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

_______________________________________________

See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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TowerTalk mailing list
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