[Elecraft] Need advice on Small Tower

[Dave Fugleberg]

Terry - My tower is a MA-40, bracketed to the end of my garage, with a
rotor and TA-33Jr on top.
I've worked 200 DXCC entities with it at 100 watts from here in the RF
black hole of Minnesota, so it seems like an effective setup for me.
It's not a 'super station' but I have plenty of fun with it (and my K3/P3!).
73 de W0ZF
On Mon, Jul 11, 2016 at 8:22 PM Terry Brown <n7tb at comcast.net> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
>
>
> I am the owner if a K2, KX3, PX3, and KXPA100.  I have been a ham since
> 1982, and love my Elecraft gear.  I have a question for the group.  I am
> moving from my current QTH in Corvallis, OR  after 30 years.  Currently I
> have a Rohn 25 based tower that is about 35 feet above my flat roof.  On
> the
> tower is a tri-band Cushcraft ATB-34 and 2m/440 comet antennas.  The beam
> and tower  date from the time I became a ham.
>
>
>
> I am building a new home in an established neighborhood in West Salem,
> Oregon.  The CCRs have expired, so I am not restricted from a tower setup.
> My new QTH is high in the west hills of Salem.   The view to the east is
> amazing as the ground slopes away.  To the west, the terrain has a slight
> rise.  I am 68 yrs. old.   I don't want to have to climb a tower again.  My
> home will be two stories with the garage level under it.  The peak of my
> roof will be about 34 ft. above grade.  My new tower location will be about
> 32 feet from grade to the peak of the roof.  The roofline will run N-S with
> the tower on the west side of the house.
>
>
>
> I have decided to purchase a new smaller lightweight crankup tower and a
> smaller  tribander such as the Mosley TA-33 JR-N or NW.  I have seen the US
> Towers MA-40,  a 20-41ft. crankup as one type.  It comes with a tilt over
> base add-on which would allow me to service the antenna from the ground.
> This particular two section tower can crank down to 20 ft., thus not being
> visible from the street east of the house.  It's max height is 41 ft. which
> would put the antenna only 9-10 ft. above the roofline when transmitting to
> the East.  I want to put a winch on the tower so I don't have to physically
> crank it up by hand as I get older.  With this background I have two
> questions:
>
>
>
> 1.    Will the yagi attached to the tower with only 9-10 ft. height above
> the roofline (41 ft. tower)  be an effective radiator and receive antenna
> on
> 20-15-10 meter bands to the East?  Being on the West Coast, this will be
> the
> direction of most of my mainland US contacts.   To the N-W-S, the antenna
> will be 41 ft. above the ground, so no problem.
>
>
>
> 2.    I am not committed to any particular crankup tower.  The US Tower is
> just the one I have seen on the internet.  I would be interested in any
> lighterweight fold over crank up tower up to 50 ft.   I think a tubular
> constructed type tower would be my preference due to weight of
> installation.
> A triangular designed crankup may be ok, too.
>
>
>
> I know I can have a larger tower and antenna, but I want my setup to be
> neighbor friendly.  I am not a contester, and will never operate over 100
> watts.  It is nice to be able to work a station if I can hear it.  I also
> want the advantage of a horizontally polarized antenna with gain.  I have
> been spoiled with that setup over the years.
>
>
>
> Just as an aside, my other antenna is a horizontal loop about 250 ft. in
> length that I use for all the other bands.  It is up about 30 ft. suspended
> from the trees in my current QTH.  I feed it with 450 ohm ladder into a 4:1
> balun to coax.  At my new QTH, we will plant two contained planters with 20
> or 30 ft. bamboo on the SW and NW corners of my property where I can put a
> vertical pipe for two supports, then use the peak of my roof on the N and S
> side at 34 Ft. for my NE and SE contact points for my other two corners for
> my horizontal loop.  I will feed it with the same 450 ohm ladder from the
> NE
> corner.   I really like my horizontal loop because it is so quiet being
> horizontally polarized.  My current one works great so I want the same
> thing
> for my new QTH.
>
>
>
> I look forward to getting some great input from this group.  I have been
> amazed at the level of quality information I have seen on this group.
>
>
>
> Thanks in advance to you all.
>
>
>
> 73's,
>
>
>
> Terry Brown, N7TB
>
>
>
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