[TowerTalk] Neighbor Friendly Towers/Antennas

[Derek Cohn/WB0TUA]

Hi Everyone,

I have finally decided to get off my butt and see about getting a tower put up.  I live in an inner ring suburb in the St. Louis, MO area with not much property so I'm looking at neighbor pleasing options.

Two towers that I'm considering are:

* US Tower MA-40 with a free standing base
* Force 12 LPT-1242 bracketed so it's free standing

For low visual impact antennas, I am considering the Optibeam OBW10-5, Force 12 C3SS, or Cushcraft MA5B.

I'm looking for advice....

My neighbors are reasonalby supportive but I would like to crank down the tower when I'm not using it.  I'm a reasonably healthy 47 year old and I'm wondering if those towers are easily cranked down.  I know that the US Tower has a motor accessory but I'm trying to keep it simple to avoid failure, maintenance, etc.  Does anyone on this list have one of these that they crank up/down manually?  Is it easily do-able for a healthy guy?

Are there any other neighbor friendly tower options that I should consider?  Are there any other antenna options I should consider?

Thanks for any advice you guys can give me,

Derek Cohn
Morse Telegraph Club - Alton Chapter
Office UD, Sine DJ
Amateur Radio Station - WBØTUA