[TowerTalk] Fwd: Fwd: Temporary tower/antenna question

Sat Feb 2 14:39:37 EST 2013

I guess the rest of the earth is flat.  With the uneven terrain around 
here no way pre-cut guys would work.  Also there is a likelihood that 
where you try to screw in an anchor, you can't because of rocks, roots 
or whatever.

73 de Brian/K3KO

On 2/2/2013 19:34, Hans Hammarquist wrote:
> Jim,
>
>
> I secure the bottom of the pole, I'm going to rise, with two (or three if it's heavy) screw anchors normally used to hold dogs and horses. I put they around the bottom and attach them to the pole with cords. Maybe not so neat but it worked for me.
>
>
> Precut guy wires are a "must" needless to say. I also use the same type of anchors for the end of the guy wires.
>
>
> The guy point on the pole is at the ~40 foot and the ~20 foot level leaving the top few feet unguyed. Has worked without problems so far. No, i would not erect 48 feet a windy day. I have three of the Swedish "hogantenn". Use two for the end support of whatever I haul up in the taller pole and the third one in its original shape. Has a disc-cone antenna that works (good SWR that is) from ~ 26 MHz to well above 450 MHz
>
>
> Hans - N2JFS
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Lux <jimlux at earthlink.net>
> To: towertalk <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Sent: Sat, Feb 2, 2013 2:19 pm
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Fwd:  Temporary tower/antenna question
>
>
> On 2/2/13 10:50 AM, Hans Hammarquist wrote:
>> Use a 48 foot glass-fiber contraption, consisting of a number of 5
>> foot sections. I think they were intended to be tent poles and not a
>> 48 foot pole. Have successfully raised that using two guy point and
>> FOUR sets of guy wires. Two guy sets are used to stabilize the set-up
>> sideways, one guy set is used to stop the mast from falling over once
>> raised and the fourth is attached to a falling derrick. The derrick
>> was a 33 foot, sectioned aluminium tube used as a support for a
>> "hogantenn" by the Swedish Army. Raised that contraption several
>> times on my own (single handed) at several FD-s.
>>
>>
>
>
> SOmething that I've found handy in speeding setup with "precut" guys is
> to have something that helps you place the guy stake/anchor in the right
> place, distance wise.
>
> I'm very interested in speed of deployment and stowing when you're done.
>    If it takes 3 hours to get on the air, that's a very long time.  My
> personal criteria is 20 minutes from "wheels stop" to "ready to
> operate".. and I'd like to be down in the 10 minute range, so I've been
> fooling around a lot. The other criteria is everything has to fit in the
> trunk of the car or similar.  Hence my interest in collapsible poles and
> such.
>
> I've done it two ways.  The first was to have strings that are the right
> length from base of pole to guy stake, and from guy stake to guy stake.
>    You set one stake, and then the two to either side.  But I found
> everything gets tangled.
>
> The other was to put a knot or tape or flag in the guy line at the right
> distance to set the stake.  (Imagine you were guying a 40 foot tower
> with the stake 30 feet out, so the guy line is 50 feet long.. Put a
> piece of tape on the guy line at 30 feet from the stake. So you can walk
> out from the base and know when to plant the stake).
>
> And, of course, if you have money.. I just got a cool handheld laser
> Leica distance meter at work which measures to 1cm accuracy from 100m
> away (taking into account tilt of the meter.. it measures hypotenuse,
> displays ground distance), and would make setting stakes trivial.
> (http://ptd.leica-geosystems.com/en/index.htm)  (no more guessing how
> high that tree you're going to shoot the antenna over)
>
> I'd love to find a material or packaging for lightweight guy lines that
> doesn't tangle or twist itself into a ball. Or a fast way to stow.  I've
> been thinking about some sort of lightweight springloaded cord reel, for
> instance.
>
> Ditto for the wires of the antenna.  I got some very flexible hookup
> wire (very limp insulation, very many fine strands) which helps a lot,
> but again, some sort of reel or dispenser would be cool.
>
>
> Here's what I think would be neat (given my crossed inverted V setup..)
>
> Place the antenna base on the ground (pole collapsed).  run each guy out
> to the right place and stake/anchor it (sandbags).  The guy is connected
> to the end of the antenna wire.  At the top of the antenna is a sort of
> ring that the antenna wires go through.  As you push the pole up, the
> wire/guy feeds out.  So when the thing is all the way up, you've got a
> sort of uncontrolled open wire line to the base.
>
> Say you want the inverted V to be approximately resonant on 20m, you
> want the wires to be 5m long from the top of the pole, which is 40ft/12m
> tall.  So the wires are 17m long, and there is about 6 m of insulating
> guy line on the end. (setting the guy anchors out half the height of the
> pole).
>
> WHat I haven't figured out yet is (aside from the spool).. how do you
> hold the base of the pole steady.  I have a surveyor's tripod but that's
> big/bulky (fails the "fit in the trunk" criteria)... But that's sort of
> the idea. In theory, once the guys are up, it holds pretty well, so all
> you need is something to keep the base from sliding, and a couple
> sandbags would do that.
>
> BUT, you really also need some intermediate guys.. That 40 foot pole is
> pretty flexible, and guying only at the top with the antenna wires makes
> for a pretty dicey setup.
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