What do you do when sotas are quiet

Been busy this morning

Finishing off the fabrication of one’s tower tilt system for a 20ft scaffold pole
Need to talk to friend get it welded up now

When its all done and the beams (tri band spider & 40m spider) are finished be easier to work those sotas especially out side europe and on 40m when that beam is finished

Karl
73s

1 Like

Alternatively you could use the time to make one of these:

1 Like

Hello Karl,

Good luck with the project. I did a similar thing when I was living in London many years ago.

At the time I thought three guy lines would be enough and ignored advice from a friend to put another set of guys at the half way. Six month later in high winds the scaffold pole failed, trashed my antennas. Stupid me. Fortunately the Daiwa rotator survived and some 30 years on is turning my hexbeam.

I look forward to the next episode about the project.

It would be good I think to see more posts about antenna projects so thanks for yours.

Mike

40m beam on a 20ft pole = no clouds above Saltash.

Oh, very drole!

:smile:

73,
Walt (G3NYY)

Well yes, but he would have exactly the same problem with a dipole at that height, and whilst I don’t know what things are like in Saltash or the frozen north, I can tell you that it is an uphill struggle to get planning permission for a 30-foot mast here, and you don’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hades for anything higher!

I hope you have plenty of concrete in the ground, Karl, the leverage of the wind on the antennas could potentially overwhelm anything much less than a cubic metre (2,850 kg) depending on your soil type.

Brian

Same here, Brian. I have one 30 ft pole at the bottom of my garden and it was a fight to get approval for that.

Also, they tried unsuccessfully to make me take down my 12 ele DAB Radio beam. (Broadcast reception antennas are exempt.)

They did succeed in making me take down one of my two satellite dishes. So I took down the small Sky dish and moved the 1 metre steerable dish to the front of the house! The following year, the rules were changed to allow two dishes without planning permission, so I put the Sky dish back up again.
:smile:

I think I’m winning at the moment …

73,
Walt (G3NYY)

Hi Karl,
Without having made any calculations and just by personal feel, the mast diameter in the picture you have posted strikes me as far too thin for a tribander yagi plus a 40m monobander.
In my opinion, you should better think on a tower.
Regarding guys, just to give you an idea, let me tell you that I have had a 7,5m tower on top of the house roof for many years and it’s been installed in 3 different locations.
It had 3 x 120deg. spaced guys at 3m and 3 more at 6m from the tower base in the first location.
For the second and third (current) locations I added one more guy at each level, so 4 x 90deg. spaced guys instead of 3 at 3 and 6m from the tower base, plus 4 more guys at 7,5m. So I currently have 3 times 4 guys securing my tower.
This picture corresponds to location #2:

This one corresponds to current location. It’s me on top trying to tighten some nuts.

I’m absolutely sure the winds will be far much stronger up there where you live than here.
Please, have a thought to this.
Best 73 de Guru - EA2IF

1 Like

I hope that / those bolts are stainless steel Karl, Mild steel construction is more trouble then its worth in saving.

Jonathan.

Hi Brian,
All is not lost. The beam will give a lower radiation angle than a dipole even when both are at the same height. Lowering the radiation angle is more important than free space gain for working over the horizon. On multi-hop paths the gain over a dipole can be 10 dB. For one or two hop paths the difference will not be much. Besides there is the possibility of nulling some of the noises one gets these days on the bands.

A beam on a 20 foot pipe is worth two on an imaginary 40 foot tower. (actually about 167 dB better).

Besides if it does clear the clouds it would be a fine act to improve the communal ambiance.

73
Ron
VK3AFW

good pointers there folks :slight_smile:

But one can’t really go above much more than 20ft at moment local restrictions bar hum bug and all of that but being nigh on top of this hill does help hell for one don’t do to badly with me G5 at that height.

This set up is a temp one till such time ones beams are operational and one beam be up at any one time is the plan hence the tilt system on a winch. As for a bigger beam than the spider, no a pole would not support it at all for sure.

Whole idea is get this lot up and running then get a rotator and then save up pennies and find a good mast one of those crank up jobs ternna mast 24ft be good then can crack it higher and drop down when not in use thus getting around the planning regs as in first case the antenna is not permanent and can be dropped at any time. For few years ago had planning peoples around in suffolk made him laugh when showed him what one did with me grounding and tilt system he was happy not a permanent thing.

Now being on top of a hill well yes it does get bloody windy at times as we suffered those storms last year

first big winds last year my big bike was also in there both machines untouched thankfully, the electric cord stopped it as well the big hedge at the back shed was replaced and well and truly strapped down and not shifted since. funny really as when came home like why the bikes out side ( and its Dark ) hang on where’s the fluffing shed. and the winds got worse many a time after that for next 3 months last winter.

So with this in mind when the forecast says its going to get bad the antenna will be dropped and placed on garden floor in other words it will be grounded till such time it passes by did this at old location in suffolk grounded beam while high winds were on.

so long term plans are a foot but money governs what one does when and where might take a while to get there but will do it skys the limit but funds a little cloudy at the mo and forecast not so good on that front either money wise :smile:

But its fun its home brew and ONE made that and made it work

Thanks again for the comments and puns Gents :smiley:

Oh yes stainless they have to be due to when it rains here everything rusts being so close to atlantic ocean.

karl

PS forgot to mention theres nigh on a square metre of concrete in there about 1 and 1/2 tons took one a day to mix up and pour in by hand/shovel
:-

Hanging christmas lights on house :frowning:
karl

The Xmas lights QRM will be back soon. :frowning:

1 Like

I suspect it’s here already. There are plenty of sets of lights on houses around here, and 20 metres gets some horrible noise in the evening. – 73, Rick M0LEP