[TowerTalk] Future hilltop tower - crankup or fixed?

[Mat Eshpeter]

I have searched the archives but have not been able to find an answer to my question.

I am building a cabin on top of a tall ridge in West Virginia. I am interested in putting up a tower next spring (between 55' and 72') near the peak of the ridge and am trying to make a decision between crank-up vs fixed. My concerns, in order, are 1) lightning, 2) ongoing maintenance, 3) difficulty of installation.

Regarding lightning, my land is at the crest of a hill. From this hilltop location, I am aftaid that my tower would be an ideal target for lightning. The hill is 1600' above sea level, and many hundreds of feet higher than any nearby hills. There are some tall trees within a couple hundred feet, but a fixed tower @ 70' is making me nervous. A crankup tower, when fully retracted, would be less than 25', perhaps offering less of a magnet for lighting strikes. But given that the towers will be well grounded, I am not sure if there would be much of a difference given that lightning would have the option of 100' trees or a conductive tower at 25' 
(crankup) / 70' (fixed). I would appreciate hearing from anyone with a tower installed on top of a hill. Would the 45' height difference between 70' fixed vs 25' retracted crankup have any meaningful effect on the probability of lightning strikes?

Regarding maintenance, I have concerns about the crankup and associated motor drive and limit switches properly functioning a few years down the road, not to mention the cables and pulleys. I am looking at US Tower and Tashjian crankups. The fixed tower would be a 70' Rohn 45G guyed twice for each of the three anchors. From everything I have read about guyed Rohn towers, other than annual inspection, there isn't any maintenance for quite a few years. The crankup motor drive would be used quite often -- every time I head up to the cabin to operate.When leaving the cabin, the crankup would be lowered to its fully retracted height. This equates to approximately 3 or 4 raising/lowering cycles each month.

Regarding difficulty of installation, the crankups look to be more effort, requiring heavy equipment to lift the tower off of the delivery truck, a crane to mount the antennas, and about triple or more the excavation and concrete. The fixed tower requires more land but I have 20+ acres to work with.

My other options are 1) don't install a tower, or 2) put the tower lower on the hillside in order to lower the probability of lightning strikes; this would completely block my shot to the west and hurt my shot to the north and south;my shot to the east would remain excellent.

The antenna that I am looking at is an M2 7-10-30LP8, but I am far from decided. The option of "no tower" is not really an option; after 20+ years, I feel it is time to talk to the DX.

Opinions appreciated, especially those with hilltop tower experience in lightning-prone locations.


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