The Tower Complement

The tower was 6 sections of Rohn 25 (10' each) and 1 section of Rohn 25AG4, an 8' flat top section. It was mounted on a 3' concrete base section buried in a yard of concrete. There was a universal eave mount attaching the tower to the house @ 20', a set of Phillystran™ guys at 35', and another set of Phillystran™ guys at 67'.

A Rohn TB3 thrust bearing was installed on the top section, and a Telex/Hy-Gain TailTwister™ rotator was installed at the base of the top section.

The installation was in place in virtually this configuration from Spring 1978, until Spring 1999. Minor variations in antennas were made over the years, but this was the final setup. At its best configuration, my tower was outfitted with the following from the top down:

• Cushcraft 4218XL 22 element 2 meter Yagi @ 84' (horizontally polarized)
• Cushcraft A147-11 11 element 2 meter Yagi @ 76' (vertically polarized)
• KLM 40 meter rotatable dipole @ 75'
• Hy-Gain TH6DXX 10/15/20 Meter tribander @ 70'
• All attached to an IIX Ltd. BG18 mast which was attached to the rotator
  
  (all antennas above were rotating, all below were fixed)
  
  
• ½ sloper for 80 Meters oriented SE @ 67'
• Cushcraft A147-11 11 element 2 meter Yagi fixed @ 66'
• Cushcraft A147-4 4 element Yagi for packet @ 66'
• Cushcraft A147-4 4 element Yagi modified to 220 MHz for packet @ 65'
• Parallel 80 and 40 Meter inverted Vee oriented NE/SW @ 65'
• Zig-zag 160 Meter inverted Vee @ 60'
• Cushcraft A4 oriented SE @ 35'

All HF antennas were remotely switched by a DX Engineering relay box mounted near the top of the tower. The feeds were Belden 8237 (RG213), and the feed from the shack to the tower was ½" hardline. HF antenna switching in the shack was by a DX Solutions automatic relay control which reads band data from the TS850.

The 4218XL was fed by 7⁄8" Heliax™ up to the Landwehr 2 Meter preamp, also mounted near the top of the tower, and by 8237 thereafter. N connectors were used at junctions.

The rotatable 11 element was fed by ½" Heliax™ up to the thrust bearing and by 8237 thereafter.

The fixed 11 element was fed by 8237 and switched (with the rotatable 11 element) by a Daiwa switch in the shack.

The fixed 4 element 2 Meter antenna was fed with 8237.

The fixed 4 element 220 MHz antenna was fed with ½" Heliax™. N connectors were used at junctions.

All feedlines (and three control lines; rotator, relay, preamp; which also ran from the shack to the tower) entered the attic through two PVC elbows just below the roof. The feedlines were carried on bicycle hooks attached to the rafters to the opposite end of the attic to the top of an interior wall of the shack. The feedlines (or the 8237 drops from the hardline/Heliax™) were connected to the back of a feedthrough panel in the shack.

Last updated: 27 January 2009