[TowerTalk] ...Compressed Air Driven Tower

[Jim Lux]

At 08:43 PM 6/29/2005, Wes Attaway (N5WA) wrote:
>Those things can only be used with the old Moonraker antennas.
>You mount the antenna on the tower, apply suitable air pressure,
>and the tower shoots the antenna up into the lower stratosphere.

More seriously, those things are pretty cool. There are several 
manufacturers of them.  They use them for news vans as well.  Do you have 
any information on the air pressure and volume required (some are fairly 
low pressure, high volume.. others are high pressure, low volume).

Properly maintained, they'll cycle up and down several times a day for 
years. They're also pretty fast (as in seconds to extend).

What they may not have is a huge amount of sideload capability, especially 
while extending or retracting.  The ones I've seen have been designed for a 
top load of a few square feet (maybe 6-7).  Maybe some fairly low windage 
thing like a spider beam or a telerana would be appropriate.



>-----Original Message-----
>From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
>[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Ed Weber
>Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 4:10 PM
>To: towertalk at contesting.com
>Subject: [TowerTalk] ...Compressed Air Driven Tower
>
>
>...Greetings from Northern California. I have a rather oddball
>tower just
>out of deep storage that I would like to refurbish and install
>this summer.
>  It has a stamped plate on its base reading "Thomas Die & Mold
>Co., and
>" Sky-Hi". This is a 7 section, anodized aluminum, compressed air
>driven and
>Guyed unit.  I have its base insulator as well...would like to
>hear from
>anyone with any experience with this beast! Tnx. Ed, KA6ZMI...
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>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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>
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>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