[TowerTalk] My First Tower

Sat Jun 29 18:20:50 EDT 2019

Other solutions would be a self supporting tower such as AN wireless if 
they still sell to hams or Trylon.  At under 50 ft it is easier to deal 
with especially if you could get a  man lift near it.

I have a 70 ft self supporting tower which is great but after gaining a 
pile of weight, which I am trying to shed and getting older, I sure wish 
I had opted for something else that would be easier to maintain.  I will 
be 55 years old so I am a spring chicken in Ham radio but once I turned 
50 my desire to do tower work declined dramatically.  When I was younger 
it seemed I was on them daily and never gave it another thought.

A crankup tilt over we be amazing, but they are very expensive these days.

W0MU

On 6/29/2019 3:56 PM, Patrick Greenlee wrote:
> Fear of climbing a crank up tower?  Lower it all the way down and then 
> secure the nested tower so it can't go further down.  No guillotine 
> effect to worry about.  Tashjian makes various crank-up/tilt-over 
> towers.  I have one that folds over at the 8 ft point and then is 
> about 18 ft 6 in to tower base horizontal distance. Tower is 70 ft 
> cranked up.  A shorter version would need even less lateral clearance. 
> Adding a tilt accessory would allow folding over a large yagi such 
> that it would stay nearly horizontal and allow working on your antenna 
> with you standing on the ground. No tower climbing for antenna maint!
>
> The Tashjians (father and son) are good to work with and have good 
> product.  PDF catalog 
> http://www.tashtowers.com/docs/2015_Tashjian_Towers_Catalog.pdf
>
> Patrick
>
> On 6/29/2019 3:35 PM, Ken Bauer via TowerTalk wrote:
>> I’ve been on again, off again in amateur radio, and for the past year 
>> have been on again with a vengeance! I am currently running a new 
>> Flex & Maestro at 100w to an EFHW-8010 at 100ft. I love CW and DX and 
>> may try my hand at contesting at some point. With this setup my noise 
>> is quite low, S1 - S2  typically, I I can hear a lot more than can 
>> hear me. More power will come, but I would rather have more 
>> directionality first. I’ve never had a directional antenna before, 
>> nor a tower of any sort.
>>
>> I understand Santa Cruz Co. says that “Antenna Support Structures” 
>> must be below 50’. I have been eyeing a SteppIR DB-18E, although it 
>> might be tight in my clearing in the forest of about 50’ in diameter. 
>> I could get the smaller DB-11 that would fit more comfortably, 
>> although I hate to give up the gain on 40 & 30. Tree cover in the 
>> area of the clearing is 120’ pines (hmm, maybe mount on top of one of 
>> those?), coastal oaks at 40’, and youngish redwood trees on the 
>> uphill property boundary. To get my clearing I’ll have to trim back 
>> redwood branches, take out an 8” dia. madrone, and take out 2 or 3 
>> fairly large pine branches. The site is up the side of a hill, 40’ 
>> elevation above the house, but another 40’ to the hill top on the 
>> neighbor’s property. Access is poor for anything larger than a bobcat 
>> or possibly a Deere tractor. Concrete will have to be pumped in.
>>
>> I am reading and enjoying “Up the Tower”, which clued me to this 
>> reflector - very useful book!
>>
>> Obviously I can benefit from all sorts of guidance. To stir the pot a 
>> bit here are some questions:
>>
>> 1. Is a crank up out of the question, given the location? Not sure 
>> how to get it up a sandy/loose dirt hillside. I hear some will not 
>> climb crank ups, afraid of guillotine effect... I don’t think I would 
>> have room to do a tilt over.
>>
>> 2. Guyed or unguyed? Is the primary consideration the cost 
>> difference? Looking at Rohn 65G 65SS050 as it says it can handle 29.3 
>> sq ft antenna at 70mph & 19.7 sq ft ant at 80mph, 14.5 sq ft at 
>> 90mph. DB-18E is 12.1 sq ft. The antenna/tower location is on one 
>> side of a saddle point and winter winds come whipping in sometimes 
>> during storms. Once had a micro tornado or something that ripped the 
>> live top out of one of the coastal oaks and carried it 25’ leeward. 
>> Don’t know that any tower would hold up to that, top branch was 6 - 
>> 8” in diameter.
>>
>> Given the tight space, hauling the antenna straight up next to the 
>> tower without having to wig-wag or use a rather tight tram-line, not 
>> having guys seems an advantage.
>>
>> 3. Am going into the county offices on Tuesday on another matter, and 
>> thought perhaps I would begin investigating the Antenna Structure 
>> Permitting process. Advice? How prepared in advance should I be?
>>
>> 4. There’s a lot of additional safety equipment, tools, parts, etc. 
>> that goes along with this erection process. Am I better off finding a 
>> company to do this for me? I’m pretty handy, and also like climbing, 
>> I’ve done indoor rock climbing for many years - I just figured that 
>> improving / maintaining / fiddling with things would be non-stop once 
>> it was erected.
>>
>> 5. What am I likely overlooking?
>>
>> Thanks everyone for your insights,
>> Ken WC6Y
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TowerTalk mailing list
>> TowerTalk at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk