[TowerTalk] Help, Antenna modeling people.

[Stan Stockton]

Thanks for the responses.

This morning I got the power company to bring their bucket truck over in less than an hour to put the rope back through the pulley.  My wife and I put it back up by about noon.

It is not a wire antenna.  It is aluminum tubing starting at 3 inches OD at bottom, tapering to about 1/2 inch using about every OD size imaginable.  You can see a picture of it on QRZ.COM.  

Coming back from breakfast, I noticed my neighbor had put out a roll of plastic tubing for the trash pickup.  It turned out to be fairly heavy walled polyethylene tubing about 1-1/2 inches diameter.  I cut a piece, microwaved it and it stayed cool so I thought maybe it was a decent option at this stage.  I used about two feet making a sling around the aluminum tubing which was taped with good 2" wide 3M tape.  My pull rope is going through both ends of the sling with holes drilled back about two inches from the end.  

I am very fortunate that this fairly large vertical crashed across the stairway going down to ground level from the back porch, missed the house by a few inches and the gigantic coil was suspended in air with the tubing about two feet below it hitting the stairway.  

I'm learning a lot about what doesn't work next to the salt water that would never be a problem on a mountain in Arkansas.  I can tell you what does work for sure.  A decent vertical on 160m with a less than adequate radial system but within about 75 feet of the open sea.

Any opinions on whether what I did to make an insulator will be good enough for about 1100 watts?  I can send a picture of what I made to anyone who wants one.  I really don't want this thing to come down again.  Just as a safety measure I'm going to put a rope around the vertical and telephone pole up as high as I can get it with a step ladder above the bottom support bracket (which is lag screwed to the pole).

73... Stan, ZF9CW

> On Nov 29, 2016, at 11:10 AM, "john at kk9a.com" <john at kk9a.com> wrote:
> 
> I should add that I am not sure why you are using rope instead of the
> antenna wire to hold up the inductor.  BTW, it's easier and more efficient
> if you just top load the vertical wire with another wire going toward the
> ground.
> 
> John KK9A
> 
> On Tue, November 29, 2016 10:47 am, john at kk9a.com wrote:
> 
> So you did not use an insulator at the high voltage end of the wire?  I
> never relied on rope being a good insulator. If you do not have one it
> should be easy to make an end insulator by putting two holes in a section
> of PVC pipe. PVC pipe was readily available on every island that I have
> ever been to.
> 
> John KK9A ex ZF2JB
> 
> To:    "TowerTalk at contesting.com" <TowerTalk at contesting.com>
> Subject:    [TowerTalk] Help, Antenna modeling people.
> From:    Stan Stockton <wa5rtg at gmail.com>
> Date:    Tue, 29 Nov 2016 07:48:39 -0500
> 
> I have about a 67 foot vertical with about 50 uh coil at about half way up
> for
> 160m.  Antenna worked great until this morning it melted the rope which was
> used to pull it up through pulley at top of my telephone pole. Antenna fell
> missing house literally by less than 4 inches.
> 
> The 5/16" double braided Dacron which was taped out about 8 inches in
> effort to
> insulate it was melted at end of tape.
> 
> I don't have much in way of supplies but want to know whether rope would be
> more likely to melt if attached above coil or below coil.
> 
> Then to find a bucket truck. I can't climb a telephone pole without steps.
> 
> Stan, ZF9CW
> 
> Sent from Stan's IPhone
> 
> 
> 
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