[TowerTalk] 80m vertical ideas / questions

[N1BUG]

Hi Towertalkers,

I spent much time this summer rebuilding after storm damage last winter. 
As part of that I upgraded from inverted V's at 90 and 105 feet for 30m 
and 40m to an OptiBeam OB1-4030 at 108 feet. I expected improvement but 
Wow! I wasn't prepared for what I observed! The old antennas on another 
tower were left up for a few weeks to make comparisons. Unbelievable. I 
now consider "inverted V" roughly synonymous to "dummy load".

So... 80m is now my worst performing band, still using an inverted V 
there. I can work stuff with a shunt fed tower on 160 that I cannot work 
on 80. I'm thinking a quarter wave vertical for 80 would probably be an 
improvement and surely no worse. Plus it would eliminate a set of ropes 
that are somewhat in the way of other projects. But I don't want to have 
another guyed structure for reasons I won't get into for now.

I looked at the DX Engineering self supporting 80m verticals. Nice, but 
they won't fit the budget any time soon.

So here is a question: Would 30 feet (real height 28 feet) of Rohn 25 be 
OK freestanding with a 35 foot whip on top? I have a 30 foot whip made 
from aluminum tubing, tapering from 1.5" down to 1/2". It could be 
extended to 35 feet with a section of 1.75" OD 0.120 wall tubing I have 
laying around. I'm confident this whip would be fine, but not sure the 
Rohn 25 would be OK self supporting with this on top. A 1992 Rohn 
catalog says 6.4 square feet of antenna with no ice, dropping to 2.5 
square feet with 1/2" ice. That is for 70 MPH wind and assumes one 5/8" 
feedline on each tower face. There would be no feedlines and being 
sheltered by trees this thing would never see 70 MPH winds. 50, maybe. 
Any experience or wisdom on this?

My main concern is not that this thing would come crashing down, but 
that every Rohn 25 tower I have ever taken down that did not have guys 
on the topmost section had seriously elongated bolt holes. I'm not sure 
what the deal is there since Rohn seems to be saying they should be OK 
with small antenna loads.

Another option might be 28' of tower, air wound loading coil, and 
somewhat shorter whip.

Base insulators could be a problem (budget-wise) but I see no reason not 
to ground and shunt feed a 1/4 wave vertical. I wonder if it might even 
cover CW and SSB by adjusting the shunt feed capacitor without needing 
to move the tap point on the vertical? Comments?

Happy New Year to all and thanks in advance for any comments or 
suggestions regarding my vertical thoughts.

73,
Paul N1BUG