I want to raise the centre of my 91 ft folded dipole to at least 35
feet. I live on the west coast of Florida with all the attendant
possibilities of hurricanes. I cannot afford a retractable tower and do
not have room for proper guy wires. I want to be able to put a pulley
at the top so I am able to lower the antenna in the event of high
winds. I have a cement block house with a roof peak of about 16 feet,
I would prefer not to have to pour a base for the "mast".
I would appreciate any advice on supporting the "mast" to the house
wall and what material to use for the "mast" so that it might not be
permanently bent by 125 mph winds.

Any constructive help gratefully welcomed

Hey, I take it you guys don't have military surplus outlets? Surely !!
What about pump up field masts and the like..........


Otherwise square steel tube reducing in diameter size until you achieve
the required total height. Using a piece of heavy steel plate,
900mmx900mm, obtain a 150mm length of box section just wider than your
bottom box section piece and weld that section to the plate [ your
bottom section sits in this ] Drill a hole straight through this to
accommodate a bolt through both box sections [ stops the section being
lifted out ] Weld a plate that will accommodate a galvanized hand winch
[ the type used on boat trailers ] to the largest bottom section, weld
an eye to the top smallest box section [ the winching cable attaches to
this ] Leaving at least 600mm in each extended section, fabricate a
collar that will lock each section in place as it is risen upwards [ to
stop it falling ] Or weld two nuts on each top section side, drilling
the centres away for a bolt/set screw to fix through, which will then
stop the box sections from sliding back down. Choose a cable of
suffcient winching breaking strain. Crank away until the desired height
is obtained, locking each section in place. Reverse the procedure for
dropping down. Attach any guy wires to additional eyes on various
sections, which should be welded on at each section top. Choose a secure
and fixed location for the floor plate. If you don't utilise or need a
floor plate, fabricate fixings that will be able for the bottom section
to be fixed to the wall [ stand off's ] Sounds a big job but it's easy
done and not megga bucks either. Not knowing what a 125MPH hurricane is
like in the UK, do's it make yer jowls chatter in the wind? LOL
Hey Bobs yer uncle, job done. Cheers Dave

--
Amateur Radio Call Sign M1BTI, Located in Manchester England.
Locator square IO83TK
Chairman Of Trafford Radio Club. Club Call Signs G0TRG & M1BBP
Located at Umist, University Of Manchester Institute For Science And
Technology
Share What You Know, Learn What You Don't.

On Sat, 02 Jul 2005 14:22:51 GMT, wrote:

I want to raise the center of my 91 ft folded dipole to at least 35
feet. I live on the west coast of Florida with all the attendant
possibilites of hurricanes. I cannot afford a retractable tower and do
not have room for proper guy wires. I want to be able to put a pulley
at the top so I am able to lower the antenna in the event of high
winds. I have a cement block house with a roof peak of about 16 feet,
I would prefer not to have to pour a base for the "mast".
I would appreciate any advice on supporting the "mast" to the house
wall and what material to use for the "mast" so that it might not be
permanantly bent by 125 mph winds.

Any constructive help gratefully welcomed

There's a nice A-frame wood mast in the ARRL Handbook that's about 40
feet high, and can be made from just a few pieces of lumber.

Bob
k5qwg

Bob Miller wrote:

There's a nice A-frame wood mast in the ARRL Handbook that's about 40
feet high, and can be made from just a few pieces of lumber.


If you can find nice, clear 2x3's 20+ feet long. Maybe back in the 50's
when those first appeared in the Handbook, but not any more...