Smitty working on SOMETHING: Antenna Masts On The Cheap

Рет қаралды 12,927

Күн бұрын

I've been asked a couple times recently to cover my masts, how I'm getting my HF antennas into the air. This video covers two such methods for HF antennas, and a bonus third method for mounting short (read: V/UHF antennas) right at the roof line
The first antenna is a Comet H422 and HyGain Tail-Twister rotor on top of two 21 foot pieces of galvanized pipe, a 1.25" telescoped inside a 1.5", mounted a couple feet into the ground with some concrete, and through a hole drilled in the over-hang of my roof line. When the inner pipe has been shimmied up into the air, a bolt is inserted into the outer pipe for the inner pipe to rest on top of.
* Antenna: www.dxengineering.com/parts/c...
* Rotor: www.dxengineering.com/parts/h...
* Guy rope ring: www.ebay.com/itm/261751460581
* Galvanized pipe and stainless steel bolts: From my local hardware store.
The second antenna is a W6NBC Double Delta Slot HF Antenna, using as the mast a 20 foot section of 2x4 lumber bolted to a steel fence post. These same 2x4 lumber masts were previously used to hold a long-wire antenna 20 feet in the air.
* W6NBC Antenna: w6nbc.com/articles/2020-TBDdo...
* My analysis of this antenna: • Smitty working on SOME...
* Lumber: From my local lumber yard.
The third antennas are just short ADS-B UHF antennas, mounted directly into "6 inch mast mounts", but screwed into studs right at the roof line so the majority of the antenna is above the roof. But over all, it requires very little actual mounting hardware.
* ADS-B (1090MHz) antenna and hardware:
* Antenna: smile.amazon.com/dp/B00WZL6WPO/
* RTL Dongle: smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B... (Unavailable as I write this (2021 Feb), but will hopefully come back?)
* UAT (978MHz) antenna and hardware:
* Antenna: smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B...
* RTL Dongle: smile.amazon.com/dp/B083JJG4LC/
* Mast mounts: www.dxengineering.com/parts/r... (I mistakenly called them "6 inch" in the video. Apparently, they're only 3 inch.)

Пікірлер: 27

@dennistate5953 9 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@jstoltenburg 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing this with me. Great ideas. I thought I had a tight lot! Thanks for your your help the other day, Smitty! Jason KD9ZHF

@miguelsalami Жыл бұрын

Looks like you have an Antenna farm out there 👍👍

@ATOMSHAMRADIO 11 ай бұрын

Great idea 🤔

@ve6kk 2 жыл бұрын

Great idea! I did similar with a 6 ft. roof tower on my garage. 10 ft mast, 7 ft above the tower. To lower I remove the rotator and the mast drops through a hole in the roof (covered when not in use) so the antenna is about 5ft above the roof. Guys only on the roof tower. This puts my hexbeam 20m element at 27 ft. AGL. 73 Peter

@12ppoundtest 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Mark!

@Man0fMeans 2 жыл бұрын

Very cool!

@ATOMSHAMRADIO 11 ай бұрын

Nice work👍

@KeiranR 3 жыл бұрын

Love your work... 73's mate ...

@cbradioskipmacintosh219 8 ай бұрын

Cool idea ! Thx for sharing. I enjoy the podcast too! Macintosh 219

@keepitclean1237 Жыл бұрын

This is sweeet!!! Yeah the quickrete and post hole diggers work great. Feed those damn cats man lol.

@James_Bowie 8 ай бұрын

I like the design. BTW: Comet H-422 Rotatable Trapped Dipole no longer available?

@SmittyHalibut 8 ай бұрын

Dang! Looks like you're right. hamradio.com completely removed it from their web page, and DX Engineering lists it as "Not Available" which I'm pretty sure is different than "Out of stock, but on order and hopefully coming soon." I have no authoritative info other than just searching for it, but it looks like you're correct unfortunately.

@TheLightningStalker 3 жыл бұрын

Boy I sure do wish we could get 20' sections of tubing around here. Welp I guess that's what the welder's for.

@SmittyHalibut 8 ай бұрын

21' sections of iron pipe are pretty standard, at least in the US. Not sure where "around here" is. Any plumbing supply store should have them.

@Joe-629 2 жыл бұрын

Its looks like you have some sort of a bushing that the smaller pipe is inserted into? What kind is that and where did you get that?

@SmittyHalibut 2 жыл бұрын

Nothing that the upper pipe is inserted into, other than the lower pipe. I think what you're seeing is a small aluminum plate with U-bolts on both the bottom and top pipe. The only purpose of that plate is to keep the top pipe from twisting in the wind. It is _NOT_ supporting any weight of the upper pipe, all that is supported by the bolt inserted through the lower pipe that the upper pipe rests on, and a bolt through the upper pipe that rests on the edge of the lower pipe. The plate and U-bolts are only there to prevent the top pipe from twisting.

@Joe-629 2 жыл бұрын

@@SmittyHalibut OK thanks!

@supermaestro67 Жыл бұрын

Hello. question: what is the minimum size of the iron pipe 12 meters for lifting the yaghi fm antenna Dimensions antenna gauge L*W*H: 5500*900*1760 MM Weight: 5 KG? thank you!

@SmittyHalibut Жыл бұрын

I have no idea. You’d have to ask an engineer to do the calculations for you on that. It’ll take into account the wind load of the antenna (different than the total dimensions and weight), and whether you guy the mast or not. Even with that information, I can’t answer that question for you. Sorry.