[TowerTalk] Tailtwister and Vertical Weight

[Dennis W0JX]

Dave,
I have a TH-11 on an 80 foot aluminum tower. The top section has a piece of tubing that acts as a type of thrust bearing to restrict sideways motion of the mast which is 23 feet long. In the middle of the top 10 feet of tower I have a thrust bearing that handles all of the weight. In other words, there is very little vertical weight on my HyGain Tailtwister.

The Tailtwister itself is mounted on a rotor shelf at the top of the second section down. I can easily rotate the TH-11 with one hand. So what you need is a good thrust bearing inside the tower which will relieve all the vertical weight and also remove sideways motion from the rotator.

My Tailtwister was manufactured in 1979 and has never been opened up. It has turned stacked arrays, a TH6 and now the TH-11 for the past four years. If properly installed, the rotator is very capable.

73, Dennis W0JX