[TowerTalk] Illuminating antennas on towers

[jimlux]

On 10/20/19 5:33 AM, N1BUG wrote:
> I don't recall seeing this come up before so I may be the only
> person wanting to do it. It wouldn't be the first time. But before I
> go and invent a wheel which may turn out to be triangular, I wanted
> to see if anyone has a blueprint for a round wheel!

> 
> It doesn't appear to me that typical 120V outdoor flood / spot light
> fixtures are sufficiently weatherproof to be safely pointed upward.
> They look as though they would make fine rain collectors that way.
> I've been looking at landscape lighting, but those seem to be low
> power units which may or may not get the job done at these
> distances. I thought about using sealed beam automotive headlights.
> That would surely get the job done well enough but if I want it to
> look nice there would be quite a bit of work in constructing a
> holder/mount.


There are plenty of inexpensive outdoor floods that will sit facing up - 
historically, they'd have one of those tubular halogen bulbs in a 
rectangular enclosure. Today, you can get them with LEDs instead of 
halogen, which greatly reduces the power and heat (heat may not be bad, 
if you want to melt snow off).  They are typically designed to wire into 
a box fed by conduit, but "shop light" configurations with a cord are 
also available.

However, what you might want is more of a spot light. I'm pretty sure 
you can find a standard PAR type bulb that fits in a fixture designed 
for vertical pointing.  The key thing to look for is "flagpole lighting"

https://www.beeslighting.com/led-spotlights/c/1612
has a bunch of examples.

LED does, of course, have the RFI potential, so traditional incandescent 
might be preferable.  - interesting thought here - I wonder if the 12V 
LED bulbs have less RFI, since they probably just run right off the 
wire, rather than having a DC/DC converter from 120V.

Your run of the mill PAR38 narrow flood bulb might be the ticket.  You 
will want to make sure you get a bulb rated for an enclosed fixture. I 
found that the hard way.

The fixtures aren't cheap (>$50) because they have to take the heat.


You *can* find exterior, wet (but not submerged) fixtures that don't 
cover the bulb, basically it's just the socket, with a gasket between 
the PAR38 bulb and the rim of the housing.  They have been used for 
decades, and they operate in the rain, even pointed vertically (notional 
use: lighting up those signs in front of your building, or lighting up 
that palm tree)

Kind of this thing, except with a cord and a stake.
https://www.zoro.com/nuvo-outdoor-wall-fixture-2l-par38-fld-bnz-sf76-523/i/G3404079/





> 
> I should add that I would prefer this lighting not produce RFI. I
> have an ample supply of that already.
> 
> So, has anyone done this? What did you use? Results?






> 
> 73,
> Paul N1BUG
> 
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