[TowerTalk] Single Line Tram System - Ideas Please

[Lee Buller]

I have built a single line tram to lower my TH6DXX from 60 feet and raise a new Force-12 C3E/D.  The tram consists of a 4 foot length of 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe.  Across one end I attached a 3 foot piece angle iron using a muffler clamp at a right angel to the pipe.  Also, I used some angle iron (it is the stuff you use to install garage doors) from the from the tips of the 3 foot piece to the back of the PVC Pipe.  The PVC pipe acts as a tiller...while the cross piece of angle iron acts as a seat to the boom of the antenna.
   
  The troubling part of this is the single line.  I've seen double line tram systems but I just don't have the room to do that.  City lot stuff.  So, using a single tram the issue is that the antenna could roll if it out of balance.  Obviously, balance is very important here.
   
  What I did is used a piece of rope connected under the cross arm tha carries the boom up and hung some wieght below the tram to keep it balanced.  The more weight ...the more stable it should be ... but that comes at a cost.  The weight is fixed on the rope to keep the whole tram in balance....but that doesn't mean I can sloppily put the boom on the tram without taking into account balancing the antenna.
   
  The whole mess has to go up to the tower and will travel less than 150 feet.
   
  What have others done here to "balance" an antenna while using a single line tram?
   
  Lee - K0WA
   


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