[TowerTalk] Question Re Mounting VHF Beam on Side of Tower

Dennis W0JX w0jx at yahoo.com
Wed May 31 12:34:14 EDT 2023


I am about to mount a new 6 el LFA Innov 6 Meter beam on the side of my tower at about 58 feet. The triangular tower section is 18 inches on a side.
The beam will be mounted with the tower section between the first and second directors which are 57.44 inches apart. I will mount it so the spacing from the tower to the directors is equal.
There are two ways that I can mount the beam: 1.) with the top of the triangle at the boom, using a mast clamp; or 2.) with the long side of the tower against the boom and triangle top pointing away from the boom.
I currently have a 5 el M2 mounted with the boom attached to the top of the triangle with a mast clamp. There does seem to be some degradation of front to back with this arrangement but I can regularly work into EU on 6 Meters using 500 watts on FT8 from Ohio.
I am theorizing that if I mount the new beam with the boom strapped to the wide side of the tower, there will be less metal toward the directors in the director of the tip of the triangle and therefore less interaction.
Does anyone out there have any experience with these side mounting options and thoughts about which one is better operationally? 
73, Dennis W0JXMilan, OH 


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