"John Ferrell" wrote in message
...
On 11 Mar 2007 07:44:30 -0700, "JIMMIE"
wrote:

I am trying to find information on build your own tower. As retirement
nears I plan on having a lot more time for doing things like this and
will have a few acres I can devote to an antenna farm. I wouldnt mind
learning to design them from scratch but would prefer a computer
program if one is available. I know to some building your own tower
may not seem practical but my wife and I inherited a lot of the basic
materials when her father passed away. I am especialy interested in
building tubular foldover mast 50 to 70 ft tall. It seems like years
ago I came across a magazine article on this that also had associated
design software. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jimmie
I have a Wilson crank up mast that I purchased in about 1980. It was
originally a 77 foot tower but a failure early in its life led to
removal of the top section. The failure was due to a torsional load
(48 element collinear on 440mhz) and other antennas. The section that
failed was about 3 inches in diameter. I appears to be pretty much the
same as what US Tower is selling today.

I have performed needed maintenance through the years and even moved
it from Ohio to North Carolina. In Ohio it was installed as a guyed
tower. It is currently installed un guyed with a home brew device that
allows me to lay it over to work on antennas on the ground.

I feel that every aspect of the mechanism is critical. If it was any
heavier the electric boat winch could not handle the extent ion. If I
had much more weight on the top, the lay over wench (and I-Beam) would
be challenged. It is built just loose enough to not hang on retraction
but not rattle excessively in the wind. I don't even want to think
about what would happen if it jammed on retraction!

The galvanizing is worn off the outside but still in good shape on the
inside. I have replaced a couple of the pulleys and one of the cables
along with miscellaneous clips & such.

When you deal with this thing it is better to think in terms of a
sailboat mast rather than a tower. Most loads you apply try to put a
crease in the tubing or load the extent ion cables.

Your suggested project would require more patience that I have. It
only takes a few hours of welding for me to want to do something else!

I would sell the old tubing & buy a new crank up mast.

BTW, I am currently trying to figure out how I can safely plant a 40
foot utility pole that was a gift....

John Ferrell W8CCW
"Life is easier if you learn to
plow around the stumps"

I dont intend to make anything that will crank up, tilt over is a
consideration as I once saw a magazine article with design parameters and
understand the person who wrote the article also may have written software.

I have set a light pole before. I got theinfo from the local power company
on how much of it should be buried and a friend that has a wrcker helped me
put it in he ground. Since the bottom end is considerably heavier than the
top the center of gravity is much lower than the actual center. this makes
things a lot easier than it may appear. Hardest part by far was digging the
hole.

Jimmie