[TowerTalk] Relays and shairing antennas

[K8RI on Tower talk]

I just picked up one of the little Yaesu 897s, which now sets atop my 
Hallicrafters station out in the shop.  I have one of the HyGain Patriot 
verticals which seems to work reasonably well for what it is, but I'm only 
about 40 feet from the base of the tower.  I also happen to have an old 
Henry 2K4 sitting near the end of the desk that could be put to good use.

It seems a shame to be running on that little vertical while looking out the 
window at the big array and tower.

I've been thinking it'd be nice to be able to run coax over to the junction 
box at the base and switch the antennas between the house and shop.  There 
is one cable for 160, 75, and 40 that goes to a remote antenna switch at the 
top of the tower.  There is also one for the tri-bander, the 6-meter beam, 
the 2-meter array, and the 440 array.

I'd like to keep it simple and that would probably mean one relay for each 
coax.  I could probably get a second rotator control box and use a transfer 
relay for the 8 wires although I could most likely get by with switching 
only the power.

Thing is, I don't know where I can find the relays to do the job and 
maintain the isolation.  The old "Dow Key" relays would have been just the 
thing.  Actually I do have one of those and another that is in a hexagonal 
box with coax connectors, but I don't remember the name of that one.  At any 
rate those are what I think I need in there.

Any suggestions?

TIA

Roger Halstead (K8RI and ARRL 40 year Life Member)
N833R - World's oldest Debonair CD-2
www.rogerhalstead.com