Friend of mine gave me 3 ten foot sections of tower. What would be the proper way of setting it up.Some important questions for you first - will your tower be:

supported with guy wires
self-supporting without guy wires
attached to your house or building

It will definitely be supported by the side of the house with Brackets. I just want to know what to use for a base. The three tubes will simple just dig into the soil and eventually sink.

Do I use concrete or just some crushed stone??

Since you'll be putting in a bracket at the roof line that means the point of most bending stress on the tower structure will be there, at that bracket, so you'll need to make it a strong bracket that is lag-bolted into a proper roof joist. Don't use weak materials like sheet metal, rope, bungee cords, wood, plastic, etc. for that bracket. You can go to a metal fabrication shop with some basic drawings and they can make one up for you probably out of angle iron for a low price.

Even with a strong roof line bracket the base of the antenna will still take the entire weight load straight downwards, so I wouldn't just put the tower on dirt or use gravel beneath. The problem with dirt or gravel is that they will settle with moisture over time, meaning that the tower will want to drop down but the roofline bracket will still be holding it in place up above. This means it would be hanging there, adding lots more stress to the tower's bracket point, putting all the stress right there at one single point.

I advise a concrete base beneath it, or at the very least a concrete patio slab or galvanized steel plate of good thickness and radius.

You can also see the work of many other tower installers in the Pimp My Gear thread too. :)

I'm looking to move my temp 4221 from my second floor spare room to outdoors where it belongs. I was hoping to add it to my existing roof top satellite mount. Has anyone here successfully done this? I have done quite a bit of reading but can't find a definite answer. I was considering the use of a MMBracket that attaches to the back of the existing satellite dish clamp, it looks like this;

http://www3.sympatico.ca/robshaw/MMBRACKET.gif

If anyone can comment on a similar install or point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

svtcanuk, if you use a 1.0" ID pole and keep the length of the pole short less than 4' that might work.

There not much wind load from a 4221. Hopefully its welded properly.

Using a larger 1 1/4"ID pole and longer length might be too much load where the bracket would attach(bolts). I would replace the two screws on the dish that attached the bracket with a stronger set.

Good luck, keep us posted.

Got it installed yesterday. It went pretty good thanks to my fearless brother. Reception results aren't exactly what I was hoping for but there better than when it was inside. On average I am getting between 70% and 80% signal with the built in tuner in my Sharp Aquos.

I am thinking of mounting a Channel Master 4228 on a chimney,
Can you tell me what kind of mounting you used and do you have any pictures
of your installation?

Thanks,
Leo

I found a chimney mount kit back when I put up our antenna (went for wall mount in the end) - it was RCA VH146. Where to find it now.. no idea :)
6+ months ago, princess auto had it, but their stock often changes by the month, if not week.
With that kit, all you'd need is a pole/mast.

May I use an existent J mount from a DSS antenna to attach a CM4221?
With other words, can a CM4221 antenna be mounted on the side of the house?

Unfortunately it's not long enough. The spacing between the mounting points on the 4221 is about 18 inches.

This is my available J mount. I have no problem adding some U bolts. I am asking if from the technical point of view if it's OK to install it against the brick wall.
http://www.hostclip.com/download2.php?a=5df4e1e0ff166c3228192ec5da266a76&b=8f6bf414d941f5786145cfe558ecbf62
http://www.hostclip.com/dl/5df4e1e0ff166c3228192ec5da266a76

I see from Yaamon post regarding the J mount that the antenna suppose to be installed above the roof line ....Any comments?

I think the 4221 is too big for a J-Mount, both from a mounting perspective and a weight perspective. I think a 2-bay (such as the 4220) is the largest you can us a J-Mount with.

If you put a second J mount pointing down and a pole in between, you can do it.
See my post here:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=680032&postcount=440

excellent mount. Nice and clean. Good work recneps77.

markham, the reason I recommend above the roof line is height. Height improves Buffalo reception greatly.

Remember there are also Y brackets that mount to the side of the wall that will allow you to use a 10' pole. The Y comes in different depth to clear the eaves.

You mount a pair of y below the eaves with the pole and antenna above. This will give better reception then below the eaves especially if the antenna is pointing into someone else house this is what you need the height.

Good luck.

Hy guys,
I just bough my DB4 antenna and I install it on a J mount ... but I have a huge tree right in front of it.... so I am planning to install that antenna on a Y mount to gain some height. My question is what distance between the two mounts is safe for 10', 12 or 15' pipe (mast). Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

I am planning to install that antenna on a Y mount to gain some height. My question is what distance between the two mounts is safe for 10', 12 or 15' pipe (mast).

I wouldn't want to use more than about 5 feet of mast with a Y-type mount and with 5 feet of mast I would think the mounts should be about 2 feet apart.

Maybe this post should go in the Items For Sale forum, but since:

I am not the seller,
technically the item is not for sale,
and since sat and direct WiFi can sometimes use a tower, but OTA is always better with a tower, I'm posting it here.

Came across it on CraigsList:
http://toronto.en.**************/tor/zip/778182339.html
I've rotated and re-hosted the images to make them easier for all to see:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/99gecko/1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/99gecko/2.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/99gecko/3.jpg

Hard to tell from the pics, but there is definitely a VHF antenna and there is possibly a UHF yagi above it.

Of course, I can offer no guaruntee to the quality/age/deterioration of any of the components.

Had to think long and hard about putting this here on DHC as that tower looks mighty tempting to 99gecko..... ;). But I thought for any lurkers trying to get into OTA, this might be a good starting point for them.

Please don't PM me with questions about the equipment, as I don't know the owner !! Follow the link above. Feel free to ask general questions about OTA equipment in the appropriate threads, however.

Good luck to anyone who might take it.

I think that antenna on top looks like the notoriously bad Terk TV55 cigar antenna.

Wow.
Your eyes aren't getting worse with age ;)