[Lowfer] LowFER Grabber and Converter

[DnEMoth at aol.com]

Check with irrigation people they have 30 and 40 foot aluminum tubes in 2  
and 3 inch diameter.
Don W2MPK
 
 
In a message dated 9/23/2012 6:32:14 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
listread at lwca.org writes:

Alas,  the telescoping 30 to 50 foot TV masts seem to have become very hard 
to  find any more, as I reported in the saga of my own beacon in The 
LOWDOWN  
earlier this year.  The last time I saw one in a catalog, which has  been 
several years ago now, it was nearly $70.  They've gone up  since!  I 
priced 
one through a local hardware store last year that  handles Channel Master, 
and discovered the 40-footer is $130 and the  50-footer is $170, give or 
take.  Same with a couple of online  sources (eBay was _not_ one of 
those...been burned too many times  there...but you might luck out).

Many of the vendors of TV antennas and  accessories are no longer with 
us--thanks in no small part to the big (and  ongoing) wireless data 
spectrum 
grab that made digital TV a mandated  process, not a marketplace decision, 
thus further driving consumers away  from over-the-air reception to cable 
and 
satellite for their local  channels.  These masts have become a specialty 
item for the remaining  vendors now,  They're also heavy and a bit 
cumbersome, despite their  ability to telescope.

The 43-foot telescoping ham verticals are much  lighter and are not 
necessarily a budget buster, though.  You can buy  individual tubing 
sections, and/or you may not need the base section  either if you already 
have a good insulator.

You can buy suitable  tubing at better hardware stores, too.  Even if your 
antenna doesn't  telescope, there are ways to get one up in the air.

As I said earlier,  the antenna for a Part 15 LowFER is not high-tech.  If 
the mast is  sufficiently in the clear, there's not much else you need to 
worry about  with it.  It's the loading coil and the ground system that 
will  
benefit from all the attention you can realistically give  them.

John

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