"rickman" wrote in message
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Wow, $880 not including the labor. I guess the $210 for the tower is not
so big a deal. Actually, I expect 60 foot of ladder would be just as much
if not more.


I did most of the work myself. The only help was once I had up the first 4
sections, some other hams came over and stayed on the ground pulling up the
other sections of tower and antenna to me with a rope and gin pole.
Labor was free except for a few soft drinks and snacks..

The actual used tower was not very expensive, it is just the other
nonoptional items you have to go with it if done anywhere near right.
Most people don't think about that cost. Then there is the rotator and
antennas and coax. I think the coax was the most single expense I had as I
used 500 of Davis Burryflex to feed 4 antennas. Not the best for the 2
meter and 432 antennas,but good enough to play with.





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rickman wrote in :

I think you are getting confused. If the wind makes the antenna bend,
any asymmetry would be along the direction the wind is blowing and so
have no torsional force.


Want to bet? It will oscillate, displacing energy into any possible
motion that is not directly restrained. I ought to know, I sat watching it
often wnough.

rickman wrote in :

Or are you saying the antenna would bow of it's own weight? That is a
flimsy antenna.

Yes. It was flimsy, but so is a reed, and those evolved to live with the
wind. Watch the way grass moves. Those things don't even have guy ropes, my
antenna mast did, so if anything it got an 'unfair' advantage... Obviously
this method won't work for a heavy antenna, but something with little weight,
little displacement off its vertical axis, and little wind resistance
compared to its mast, will work. Just pick a material that is never bent
beyond its fatigue point. Like I said, FIFTEEN YEARS. Storm force winds too.
If I hadn't seen it and done it, I wouldn't be saying it.

I can add a small remembered detail about the point where I added the guy
lines. When I first placed the mast vertical, just to see it that way, I
noticed one major node that tended to stay still, roughly two-thirds up it. I
decided that if I guyed the mast not exactly at that point, but slightly
offset from it, it should damp resonaces in a similar way to the placement
used to damp a guitar string. That way I get the best placement, combined
with enough damping to prevent the oscillations building up to a critical
level. It worked. My neighbours became convinced at around year five, but I
managed to calm their anxieties beforehand.

rickman wrote in :

Yeah, no doubt. I put up an antenna tower once on a job. It was just a
TV antenna some 15 or so feet above the house, but that tower was pretty
solid. It could be climbed without any trouble... once it was guyed.
But I do recall it was an expensive tower compared to the usual pole
sticking up from the chimney.


I just thought it worth mentioning that I'd not think of applying my method
in the other post in this case. Too much wind resistance in a TV antenna, not
to mention critical directional stability... Got to use a rigid mount as you
did for that.