[Rover] Portable tower plans

[Rick R]

The most common rover tower setup is a fold-over, with the potential to have 
some "crank-up" additional height. The next most common is just a fold-over 
mast, and the rarer tower yet is one of those hydraulic or air masts that is 
powered to extend...EXPENSIVE, heavy and complex.
Best to use a light weight aluminum mast or tower that will hinge at the 
rear of the vehicle, and the vehicle should be a van of sorts. Then the top 
(front) part nests in a saddle that is mounted to the front bumper, with the 
antennas oriented so their booms are vertical, or slightly angled, clearing 
the ground by about a foot. I believe that I know that KA1ZE, ND3F and 
WB2ONA have setups like that. N2JMF had a set up like that, but he's 
modified it since. AA2UK had a rover with a 40' powered hydraulic mast (it 
needed a 6 wheeled vehicle truck to transport as the mechanism and tower 
weighed about 1500 lbs).  N6NB has just a mast of about 20' like that. You 
will need to fabicate a steel frame to allow the mast to hinge and fold 
over, leaving about 4' sticking out the rear. I have also seen a setup that 
uses a telescoping mast on a vertical rear mount, so that nested everything 
is about 10-12' total height to get under the bridges and underpasses, and 
then once on site the mast is manually elevated. Takes a lotta muscle, 
although I do think that there are telescoping masts with some sort of winch 
and cable to raise and lower. Remember, KISS! 73 es good luck, Rick, K1DS/R