Thanks to the advice of some of the folks on this forum who thought I needed to get my antenna higher, I've been searching for antenna towers. I located a guy who wants to get rid of his and so I'm probably going to go look at it soon. I talked to him on the phone and he didn't know what kind it was or much about it, only that it was fairly old, about 25-30 feet tall, was one of those triangular towers where there are 3 vertical pipes connected by cross bracing, and the whole thing sat on top of a metal plate. I asked him if there was concrete under the plate and he said no -- when they first put it up he didn't think it would stay but its been up years. So my first question is, does this sound right? Are there towers out there that don't require concrete? Also, he said they replaced the antenna a couple of years ago and he thought that they just took the whole thing off the base, replaced the antenna, and lifted the top part back on the base, so he was pretty sure they never needed to climb it. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should be looking out for when I go over there to make sure it is still useful and I'm not going to get something unsafe? Also, does anyone know approx how much a tower like this weighs and are the segments typically 10' or what? I just have a Pontiac Vibe (like a Toyota Matrix) and am not sure yet if there's anyway I can get parts in/on top of that car or if I need someone with a truck. Thanks.

Yep, the lighter-duty towers that Delhi (18 ga. GN series) and Radio Shack sold could be installed with a metal plate on the ground through which long metal stakes of 3 to 4 feet in length could be pounded in at angles, then the tower could be attached with a bracket to the roof end joist or else it could be guy-wired.

After you've taken down all but the remaining lowest section you might want to just use an angle grinder to cut off those metal stakes and leave them in the ground. When you put the tower up again you could use fresh galvanized ground rods cut to a suitable length with the grinder.

A 10 foot length of a Delhi 18ga. GN can easily be lifted with one hand. :) You could tie together the tower sections and put them onto a foam or thick cloth pad on your car's roof, then tie it all down like a canoe.

Thanks stampeder. From his description it definitely sounds like that could be it. I'll probably find out in a couple days.

To follow up, I picked up the tower yesterday. It wasn't quite what I had in mind, but at least it was free. It contains 2 10' sections so about 20' high. It is the triangular tower design using 1" steel 16 gauge tubing for the vertical sections. The tower sat on a base plate that was about 1 foot on each side and was buried about 20" underground, with some heavy rocks on top of the plate (underground), and the base plate has 3 tubes extending down about another foot from that. The thing that surprised me is that the tower was not attached to the house, nor was the base in concrete. It was just free standing, and they said they thought it had been there since the 70s. Now, just because that's what the last guy did doesn't mean I necessarily want to do that unless I'm confident it will continue to work. I originally thought I would attach it to the side of my garage, but that's when I assumed it came with a bracket for doing so.

Wow, I'm surprised the tower didn't fall. That design is meant to be bracketed or guyed. It's most definitely not a free-standing type, unlike the Delhi DMX series.

Unless you live in a bungalow--or don't want to mount anything on your roof--I don't see a 20' tower as worthwhile.

Most bracketed tubular towers allow for one section above the bracket. If your home is two stories, I'd look around for another compatible section to maximize your height.

Wow, I'm surprised the tower didn't fall. That design is meant to be bracketed or guyed. It's most definitely not a free-standing type, unlike the Delhi DMX series.
Yes, that is what I figured. It just didn't look like that's how it was supposed to be installed. Is there any worthwhile way to properly attach it to the house? Like heavy-duty shelf brackets or something? Or would it just be better to install an eave mount or wall mount and forget about the 20' tower? My roof peaks at about 12' above ground. Thanks.

DarkNovaNick, I would definitely bracket it to the roof given its history of being free standing when it wasn't designed for that! :eek: The stress on the lowest section was enormous over the years so its time to give it some help.

See if you have any local building codes or by-laws about roof mounts, as some places require a permit.

As for a roof bracket, you could cobble something together from hardware/auto store parts that would do the trick, such as a length of EMT pipe and some muffler clamps. Go with galvanized stuff all the way, even the nuts and bolts. I find that I can squish parts of a 1" EMT pipe completely flat in my shop vise and then drill a hole in the flat part for putting the lag bolt through.

I suggest reading all about roof mounts here in this thread (even tripods) to understand the tips and tricks for finding joists, etc. since you might need to use 2 diagonal EMT pipes to a rooftop joist if you don't have an end joist to sink some lag bolts into.

Check the waterproofing thread too for when you're done the mounting work.Most bracketed tubular towers allow for one section above the bracket.Even the brand new ones say to use only 2 sections above a roof bracket, so with a used one I'd carefully consider how much mass will be going up there (number of antennas, rotor, gin pole, other stuff) as well as the expected wind load. A second section above the bracket might probably need a set of guy wires.

Two questions

I am putting up a tripod for my antenna on the peak of my roof


First

I see mention of pitch blocks being used but nothing of the sort came with my tripod. Instead I was extremely liberal with roofing compound.

Should I install Pitch blocks under the feet of my tripod?

Second

I took the shortest run to my cable box on the side of my house. I ran the coax and the ground trough my down spout. after doing so I wondered if this was a good idea.

Is there any reason not to run the cable through the down spout and eves?

Thank you for any input

Marshall

At this point I'm questioning whether I even want to use the 20' tower as it is old and I'm questioning its longevity, so I'm reevaluating my options. Right now I'm looking at how well a wall mount would work. I would mount the antenna on the side of the garage so it would be easy to reinforce where the bolts connect to. Our eaves extend out over 20" so we would need a 24" wall mount. I'm looking at the Ronard 124 which has 24" clearance. Our roof peaks at 12' so I guess my question is would it be good to buy maybe 2 10' sections of 1.5" EMT and run it all the way to the ground so the ground takes some of the weight? How far above the top wall mount bracket can the mast extend? I'm looking at using a pretty long antenna, I think it is about 12' long. Thanks for the advice.

I have found a Delhi dmx 68 foot tower in good shape. Since there's no way I'm going to be able to climb it, I want to erect it with a swivel base. Does anyone have a picture/description of what the Delhi base looks like and how the tower is raised? Neither the website nor the dealer's catalogue is much help, but I understand the base is too low to allow space for a counterweight, so the tower has to be raised by brute force. Besides, they want $360 for the base.
I'd be tempted to just buy the base if it would do what I want, but since it sounds like it won't, it looks like I'll have to design a counterweighted mounting (and maybe I can save some money, too). Does anybody have any suggestions? I'm not too proud to use somebody else's design if it save me the trouble of doing my own.

This (http://www.tvantenna.com/products/tvreception/mounting/towers/taco/dmx/DMXinstructions.pdf) PDF shows a diagram of the DMX hinged base.

You could use a Block and Tackle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_and_tackle) setup, or a very strong rope and a dozen or so of your friends to hoist the tower. Even a winch line connected to a truck would likely do the trick.

A line would need to be connected in the opposite direction as well to ensure the tower doesn't go too far.

@Marshall: Pitch blocks might be a good idea if you live in an area with heavy rain precipitation. I believe you can form a better seal against the roof with a block. However, you should be okay.

With regards to downspouts as conduit for coax and ground wires: Just ensure that there are no sharp edges that can wear against the coax. And create an effective rain loop at the bottom. Don't place connectors, splits, or F-81's (female to female connector splice) anywhere near a potential water flow.

@Uglyduckling: Further to above: the DMX hinged base is not designed for continuous up-down access to the top, but rather to ease initial installation and take-down for those not able to climb the structure.

If it's copper or plastic you're asking for trouble. The vent pipe clamps are designed for old iron pipe vents found on really old homes.

http://www.homewisepros.com/images/Antenna_mounted_to_vent_jpg.jpg

Iron or steal pipe will be rusty looking... this you could use.
http://tardyhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/vent.jpg

I have been playing with this idea to mount an antenna for DX-ing. The rational is to have the minimum hardware visible on the outside (for the WAF).

The mast is a metal conduit constructed of two conduits. A thicker conduit at the bottom (full 10 ft length ) and then stepping it down to a thinner OD towards the top - whatever length is practical to still allow access to the antenna from the roof.

The securing of the mast is done inside the attic and the mast will be lowered, by dropping it into the attic to allow access to the antenna. This will be the limiting factor for how high the antenna will be able to go.

The RG6 coax runs down the inside of the conduit.

The PVC pipe is and flushing is mounted the same way as for a plumbing vent pipe.

There is a gap between the PVC and metal mast as well as the hood to allow for the antenna movement in stormy weather without puting a force on the PVC and roof seals.

The mast is grounded to the main electrical ground.

The amp (Kitztech) is mounted inside but can also me mounted on the outside if required.

Any ideas about this? I am sure this is not a new concept. Could there be a some building code that would prevent me from mounting the antenna this way? What are the gotchas?

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/9934/antenna112.jpg

Iron or steal pipe will be rusty looking... this you could use.
On the otherhand, since it is so rusty and old, the joint (or the rest of the pipe) could go any second, heh.

If I can manage to not be too embarrassed, maybe I'll post a pic of the cajun engineering job I did to build a GH at the last minute before the transition, vent pipe mount and all.

I don't think my mounting 'system' is anywhere near as foolish as in HDTV101's 1st pic, nor do I believe it is causing any pipe or joint damage, although the antenna performance probably suffers somewhat. But after everyone's strong encouragement, I'll be changing it anyway.

Thanks. :)

Above was originally in answer to a reply in 'Stucco and signal interference'. Kind of out of context here, but I guess it was moved because this technically is a more appropriate thread for the comments.

The PVC pipe is and flushing is mounted the same way as for a plumbing vent pipe.

There is a gap between the PVC and metal mast as well as the hood to allow for the antenna movement in stormy weather without puting a force on the PVC and roof seals.The only gotchas I see are the usual warnings/caveats about penetrating roof mounts, in which the constant effect of wind and temperature changes on the antenna mast and its base causes the waterproofing at the roof hole to fail. I would recommend a lot of attention to working out the problems faced with that.

Hi All,

I have a line on a 68' tower that is free, providing that I remove it. The tower is free-standing, mounted less than 1m from the owners house on a concrete pad. Nearby shrubs prevent lowering of the unit to dismantle on the ground.

Has anybody had some experience removing towers of this size section by section? If so, what equipment would I need? I'm not looking at renting a crane or skyjack for this job, as it would make it not cost effective to do so. Safe manual methods preferred!

Thanks, Ivan