I NEED HELP WITH 5-band inverted V

[KB0SNE]

Hi Everyone,
I recently built a 5-band inverted V dipole and tried it out at 36'. From Northern North Dakota I was receiving as far away as Argentina and transmitting all up and down the east and west coasts with 100 watts-- So the antenna works. Without going into the gory details, my 36' mast no longer exists. My question is this: What are some of the rest of you using for masts/towers and how do you reach your antenna for maint ? I'd like to go at least 35 feet for HF and a little more for 2 meter. The mast I had placed the HF at 36 and my 2 meter at 55 both on the same mast. I'm open to ANY ideas. Right now I'm off the air due to no way to "hang" my antennas. Thanks for any help you can give. Mike

[W0EA]

Trees? the "organic" mast :P

Seriously though, my first HF dipole was on top of a 6' wooden fence. Seriously.

Hope you can come by another way of course. Good luck!

[W6ANF]

I use a DX-EE 40/20/15/10 meter dipole. It's about 40' long. I have it strung up inside the attic of my two-story house. I was a bit leery about how an antenna would work in the attic like that, but I get into Hawaii and Europe and South America with it on 100 watts. Listened to a strong New Zealand station on it last night.

Rick W6ANF

[N9IZ]

I've heard of some guys using those military surplus fiberglass or aluminum camouflage supports. They're 40' tall and have guy rings that can be installed in a couple places to keep them up. Would work dandy for supporting the center and/or ends of a wire antenna. Have a little pulley up there on top to hoist it up or down. Might be able to mount a light vhf or uhf antenna up on top of it somehow, too. They're really cheap at less than $15 shipped for a used one on ebay. This is assuming you have a decent sized yard in which to set one up.

Jeff

[AC0GR]

I've heard of some guys using those military surplus fiberglass or aluminum camouflage supports. They're 40' tall and have guy rings that can be installed in a couple places to keep them up.

I use the surplus fiberglass poles to support my field day antenna (80m Carolina Windom) I only run them up to 28 ft, and guy them at the top. I have had mine up for over a year, but do not know if I would use them for a 'permanent' deployment.

Have been considering getting an aluminum set and trying them out as a vertical.

[AB8XE]

I use two 10' "top fence rail" posts from home depot, welded together and strapped to my chimney in a tilt down mount about 15' high. Add another 4' extension of electrical pvc with a 1" 90^ sweep section to space it slightly from the pole and I get about 39'. I pull the feedpoint of my wire doublet up with a rope strung through the center, so it can come down easily if it needs maintenance.

[NA0AA]

Your locator on the zed does not show a house - but it does show a long line of trees...

Out in your neck of the woods, I'll bet you could find the Cushcraft/Laird galvanized push-up masts - they come in 30' to 50' sizes in light and heavy duty ACE hardware carries their stuff although they might have to special order them - they come with guy rings and are pretty easy to set up - if you have two people you can do a lot of lifting - if you use a couple of halyards you can raise and lower antenna single handed.

A Glenn Martin roof tower?

Depends on your lightning issues - don't forget your grounding when you do these.

[N9PH]

I've used push up poles from Rohn (or whatever they are called now) for years. They used to make 20, 30, 40 and 50 footers (H20, H30, H40, and H50) although they were always several feet short of the advertised length due to the overlap in the pipe.

I buy mine locally from Hill radio in Bloomington, Il. (www.hillradio.net).

Radio shack used to carry these poles but they disconnected them, probably from a product liability concern. The poles aren't that expensive, but shipping cost is.

I would suggest a search for the rohn company (Radian might be the new name) on the web, then looking for a distributor in your area.

For dipoles, trees can work very well if done properly. You can use a fishing pole or slingshot to get a rope over an upper limb, and then "Bob's your uncle" as a friend of mine would say.

Joe
N9PH

[W9GB]

My question is this: What are some of the rest of you using for masts/towers and how do you reach your antenna for maint ?

Call your local Rural Electric Coop and see what the price for a 35 to 40 foot pole installed at your QTH will go for. (Should be ~ $300) Have them place an insulator / pulley at the top .. and get some quality UV resistent rope!

w9gb

[KB0SNE]

Thanks for the advice everyone. But I lucked out and found a Rohn HDBX-48 for a "giveaway" price within driving distance. I'll go pick it up June 19th and that should solve the problem. Now on to bigger and better things ! Thanks again.