Ham Radio Forum

I just purchased a new home on a half-acre open lot. I want to put a three-element 20, 15 and 10 meter tri-band beam up 50 to 70 feet and I am wondering what type of tower to use. I would appreciate comments from anyone with long-term experience installing and maintaining antennas on standard guyed towers, self-supporting towers, crank-up towers, tilt-over towers, wood power poles, or whatever.

Thanks...

Years ago I purchased a used 100-foot guyed manual crank-up tower that had been stored in a farmer's barn after TV repeaters were installed in his area and he didn't need an antenna that high any more for TV reception. It was a bit rusty, but I sanded the rust spots, gave it a fresh coat of silver paint, and installed it in the center of my back yard with a tri-band beam and dual two-meter beams on top.

I used it for several years. It never came down, even during repeated 60 MPH+ wind gusts. However, I worried about it constantly, because it could have seriously damaged our house or, even worse, a neighbor's house, if it had come down. Raising and lowering it were the scariest times, because the guy wires hung loose unless the tower was fully extended. Raising and lowering was done only on perfectly calm days, but even so they were very worrisome experiences. Of course, I could have had helpers pulling on each set of guys to keep some tension on them while the tower was being raised and lowered, but I thought the risk of one person pulling more than the others and pulling the tower over was greater than the risk the tower would fall with equal slack in all sets of guys.

I wouldn't install another guyed crank-up tower like that again. It was nice to be able to work on the antennas 20-feet above ground, rather than 100-feet in the air, but cranking the tower up and down involved more risk than I am now willing to accept with the improved wisdom of advance age,.

Don

I have a 65 foot fixed guyed tower, but if I was going to install a new one it would be a self-supporting crank-up. They cost a lot more than guyed towers, both to buy and to installed, but I would much rather not have guys.

Andy

I am in exactly the same situation as you: 0.6 acre, just in a new-for-me home, no antenna restrictions; lifetime of waiting for a nice tower, some time on my hands. Here's what I'm planning.

Tower: US Tower HDX-572MDPL 72-foot crankup, NEW. This tower will hold pretty much anything you may plan for a lot size like we have. New so I don't have to worry about cable troubles for a while. Wind won't bother the HDX series if you're reasonable with installed antennas. You can crank it down fast in case of lightning storms. One person can do it. It costs a lot of money to buy and install but if you're a dedicated ham, you'll get your money's worth in the long run. I believe I'll never regret the installation.

Taking this step reminds me of becoming a life member of ARRL at 25 years old. It was a lot of money but a good decision in the long run.

Antenna: Steppir 4L yagi with 40/30 meter add-on. Again, costs a lot, but will serve as a fantastic antenna on any frequency (not just ham band) from 7 through 54MHz. A virtually full-size rotatable 7/10 MHz dipole at 80 feet high works very well. I will have an excellent antenna even on bands like 18 and 24 MHz which are easy to miss out on if using a conventional yagi. 18 MHz is often open when anything higher is dead.

That's my plan. I can't wait to get started. In the meantime, I'm putting up my Steppir BigIR vertical and will work the 8 bands it provides the best I can.

Murray

Are there any users of tilt-over towers on the board? I like the idea of being able to lower antennas all the way to the ground to work on them. Are tilt-over towers worth the cost? Are they safe? Are they difficult to use? Would you buy one again?

Chris

There are several problems with tilt-over towers in addition to high cost:

1) A relatively large open space must be available to clear the tower and the antennas mounted on top when it is tilted over. Sufficient open space often is not available in typical residential environments.

2) Even though tilt-over towers make it possible to install and repair small antennas (small VHF antennas, for example) from the ground, tilting a 40-meter beam to the ground doesn't eliminate the necessity to work on most parts of it high above ground.

3) Tilt-over towers generally can be used to support the ends of wire antennas only if the antenna wires go off in the same direction the tower tilts toward.

Rather than deciding between a crank-up tower and a tilt-over tower, have you thought about using a tower that does both? Here is a tower that both cranks up and down and tilts http://www.iol.ie/~bravo/Crank-up%20Tilt-over%20Tower.htm.

There's a firm in the UK called "Strumech" of Brownhills, Staffordshire. They make crank-up, tilt-over, towers in a variety of heights and specifications (including electric motor options).

We have a 16", 60ft, crank-up tower at our local ATC squadron (with an electic motor to help) with loads of VHF aerials thereon. It does not require guy wires, but it DID require a six-foot cube of concrete as a base.

They should have an agent in the USA.

73
Dave