VE3FRX 52'antenna
project
Well it took me all weekend and some serious sunburned arms, but its up.
The ultimate in McGuyverism

I used the falling derrick method to raise the bugger as I couldn't do it by walking it up.
The mast itself is only 28ft high. Add 23 for the roof peak height and 1 ft for the bottom of the tripod mount. The mast WAS 33ft high, but broke (bent 90°) on first raise attempt because of a snagged guy rope that I didn't see until too late.  Guys are 3/16" dacron rope.

When I picked up the two free Delhi towers last year in Woodstock I also picked up a bunch of heavy hot dipped galvanized iron plates and other bits lying about - from commercial tower installs.  Thought they may come in handy sometime.  Also a few galvanized 2" diameter masts.  So I used one 10 ft piece for the derrick and the rest of the bits to make a mega hinge lag bolted to the roof trusses.  Too difficult to describe, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.  The idea was to use the bits I had without drilling more holes or buying more large bolts.

I loosely attached 3 sides of the guys (NW, NW, and SW) and then got Linda to drive the Kubota tractor to pull down the derrick while I walked up the mast (AND CHECKED FOR SNAGS!!!).  We had two Motorola radios to keep in contact while it went up as I couldn't see her from the far roof top.  Worked like a charm, but it was all I could do to hold it upright until I got the bolts back into the other two legs of the tripod.  Then about an hour to adjust the 8 guys to get the thing reasonably vertical.  Got quite a bend in it as it went up.

The top two sections are 1 1/4" chain link fence top rails swagged and bolted together.  Had to remove 4ft from the the one that bent.  About 2 ft goes into the 1 1/4" mast, using tape to prevent wobbling as it was inserted and then bolted.  A guy station added at this joint.

The bottom section is 1 3/8" mast and just fit into the tripod.
I added two halyards for two wire antennas.  The 80m Zepp and one to be dreamed up later.
The 144/440 ground plane is on top and an angle iron crossarm supports the halyards.

So the bastard is up and hopefully staying put!

Next is building the DX Engineering 5 band Hexbeam I picked up at Dayton and getting it up on top of the tower.  I installed a brand new Channel Master TV rotator that I got a yard sale for $5.  I also picked up the two 250Hz Cw filters and the roofing filter from INRAD at Dayton.

So I may have the Zepp up by Tuesday morning, or not.  Depends if I recover by tomorrow!
And all this so I can contact some obscure islands on 160m.  Gotta love this hobby!
Hope to see some of you at the Central Ontario Hamfest in Cambridge, ON on June 6 (my birthday).  Don't think I have anything left to buy, but I couldn't afford it anyway, after Dayton.

Cheers 'n beers
Go Blackhawks!
73
Jeff
VE3FRX

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