I'm looking for information as a starting point to setup an antenna in either the attic or indoor. (I'm in a townhouse condo. No outdoor options available.)

I'm looking for some good information to start and information on dealing with issues.

You'll find a ton of good posts on attic installations in this thread. Use the Search This Thread tool to the upper right beside Thread Tools and put in "attic" as your search term.

Also check through the Pimp My Gear! (Photos of OTA gear) (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=24755) thread for some attic photos in there.

HI Guys,

How high can I go with an antenna mast ?. I read somewhere that 10' was the max without wires for support. I'm planning on mounting my antenna mast off my chimney. Now the chimney will eat up about 5' of the 10'piece of pipe I have. . I was planning on using a 5' piece of 1.5" OD pipe attaching it to the CM9521A rotor. I'm using a cm 4228HD antenna. Any advice is appreciated

Thanks

Mesels

As I posted in the "Rotors" thread, the 9521a is designed to only support three feet of antenna mast.

Mr. Weather, indeed. There are several installs in my neighbourhood where 5' or more of mast separates the rotor and antenna. I cringe each time I see them. ;-)

Was looking for ways to improve my antenna height other than mounting a tripod on my roof. Currently have a 10' mast attached to the side of my house with 18" standoffs, 3-4 feet supported with 6-7 feet above roof line.

If I were to get a Telescoping Mast, and supported the first 20' with standoffs attached to my brick wall house, about how high above the roof from the last standoff support could I go without the use of guy wires?

I think you're suppose to support 1/3 of the total mast height, but would going with a 30', or even a 40' telescoping mast be possible with only supporting 20' of it without guy wires.


Or maybe a tripod would be easier...

A tripod would be easier and probably safer. A tower would be even better but that's a whole different kettle of fish.

A push up mast needs to be guyed every section. Even if the bottom section(s) were mounted to the wall, as soon as you got beyond 10 feet above the last mount you would have to guy it.

I'm thinking about moving my antenna to a chimney mount but I'm not sure the stand-off length of the mount will clear my capstone. My capstone overhangs the chimney by 5" at the corners.

Anyone know the dimensions of commonly available mounts? Thanks.

Chimney straps only go 3".

You could use a 6" wall mount bolted to side of Chimney.

Thanks for the reply. I want to avoid drilling into the brick so I guess the antenna will stay on the J-mount for the time being.

Getting close to mounting the GH6n I'm building. Mast arrangement is:
10' of 1-1/4" EMT mounted on 2x4 support blocks. Each block attached to brick wall with 5/16" SS bolts & fender-washers - each bolt into double-expanding anchors in the brick about 16" apart. Blocks spaced about 2'-6" apart vertically. EMT held in place with 2 heavy-duty EMT clamps (each clamp's mounting hole on opposite sides of the EMT) attached with 1-1/2" galv lag screws on each block.

Inside the EMT is 8' of fence top-rail with modified couplings for 1" EMT (ground down, split and bent to fit tightly around top-rail and in inside the EMT) at top and bottom.

GH will be mounted on a 10' top-rail with its narrow end nestled inside the 8' top-rail inside the EMT. Another modified EMT coupling will ensure snug fit of this top-rail at the top of the EMT.

In other words, total length of mast will be 18' (10' EMT and 10' top-rail minus the 2' that will be inside the EMT. Hope this desciption is clearer than mud.

Am I courting trouble with this mast arrangement?
Any advice, suggestion or critisism welcome.

I have used extended pipes like that before, I prefer through bolting the ovelaping pipe with 5/16 bolts.
I also don't like the 2x4 standoff on the wall. The conduit clamps are not strong enough and/or the screws will pull out of the 2x4's.
I used 2 sets of 3" wall mounts, 2 at top of wall, one at 2' down and the other at 4' down. That puts 4' of your 18' mast against the wall. All anchors were 5/16x2 SS lag bolts with Lead anchors.
It will sway in the wind.
Good luck.

Thanks for your comments Tom.F.1.
My concerns were with the mast attchment to the 2x4s, the length of supported mast, and stiffening of the EMT provided by the the top-rail inside the EMT.

Another concern is that if I lower the height of the mast by attaching another 18" of it to the wall, the antenna may not be elevated enough (it will be attached to the top 4' of the mast via 2 PVC crosses sliding on the mast). Guess I should test the impact of height reduction by first seeing what reception is like with antenna at top of mast and then lowering it so antenna is 18" below top of mast.
Picture of approximate mast location is in my album - picture shows 10' rail attached to trellis. Attachment described in my post is mast mounted on outside of wall beside the trellis/planter.

Will through-bolt as suggested. Does orientation of these bolts matter, ie. parrallel or perpendicular to antenna reflector/active element plane, or is alternating orientation better?

Would it be OK to attach mast directly to wall with 5/16" SS bolts through the mast into double expansion anchors (made of die-cast Zamak, a zinc alloy)?
(Anchor for 5/16 bolt requires 5/8 hole; 3/8 bolt needs 3/4 hole which comes too close to edge of brick)

Is sway likely to be unacceptable with 2'-6" attached to wall and/or significantly less with 4' of mast attached?

Reason for messing around like this is that I'm trying to avoid gable-mounting it. But..., having cancelled my cable service effective Oct.1, I need to get the GH6n I've built mounted.

In my experiences,whatever you think will do in screws,lag bolts and mounts is usually not enough.I have a 25foot tower with about 6 feet of mast above it and i'm glad that all I have for mast.In the winter months with the wind it does some swaying.

Is there really much difference in attaching your antenna to a 40ft tower, as opposed to the top of your roof?

I am in Essex, and am still exploring all options to maximize reception.

If the peak of your roof is 40 feet then no, there's no difference. :)

A tower allows you to avoid drilling holes into your roof for a tripod. It also provides a more direct path to ground in the event of a lightning strike.

I'm installing another tower -- this time for a friend as a weekend project.

On my tower installation at my house this year, I installed on a cement platform so I used lag bolts.

This time the tower will be on grass in a back yard. I have a Delhi Gold Nugget tower base plate. I also have the three "spikes" it comes with to secure the base plate to the ground.

The "spikes" are 1 1/4" galvanized metal tubes, three of them, each about three feet long.

Am I supposed to just sledge hammer them into the ground on an angle?

Please advise.

By the way, we're going with twenty feet of tower + a 10ft mast + rotor (old Channel Master) + 3ft mast + HBU55 with 7777 in Keswick ON. House is a bungalo.

Second question: I presume that with these tubes sunk into the ground, that I can consider my antenna and tower grounded. All I'll need to do is ground the RG6, right? Am I supposed to ground the rotator wire as well?

HWP, I recall viewing the installation sheet that comes with such a tower and plate, and the stakes were depicted at opposing angles to each other in the ground. Have you searched this thread? Someone may have posted an electronic copy of this sheet here...

http://www.wade-antenna.com/Wade/GN.pdf

I have looked at this document. It seems to be self-explanatory. But I wanted to ask here in case others with experience might be able to advise.

It's not that one, HWP. Let me check my own documentation and see what I can find...