It's only money right?

[Captain Kilowatt]

Well as a lot of you know I have had some antenna problems the last year,mainly the fact that my Cushcrap A3 is pretty much done for. I'll never buy another Cushcraft antenna after having dealt with their customer service and quality of build on the tribanders. MFJ now makes them but I doubt things are any better. It really got beat up last winter and is still hanging on the tower in an unusable state. It is about 30 years old AKAIK. I am the 3'rd owner. The tower it is on is at least that old and the rotator that turns it all has a broken ring gear.I have been thinking about a new tower next year and had pretty much decided on a 56 foot Delhi self supporting tower and had planned to build a five band two element quad to put on it. I have since been looking at the Trylon Titan range of towers. I know of one Titan around here and I have climbed it. It is a wonderful tower.Titans are not cheap but you get what you pay for I guess.I am looking at the 64 foot Titan T-300 which is rather $$$ but it will outlast my lifetime. As for the antenna I have decided pretty much to go with the Hygain TH11-DX which is an 11 element five band yagi on a 24 foot boom. This all depends on how much money I can save up between now and next summer/fall.


My question to you is are any of you familiar with the Titan series of towers and especially with the TH11-DX or any of the Thunderbird series antennas from Hygain? They look good on paper but my concern is for strength mainly.I get a lot of wind here and sometimes that wind comes with some icing. that's pretty much the reason I decided to stay away from the quad.That and the probelms erecting and maintaining such a beast. At least a yagi is two dimensional and not three like the quad.


http://www.trylon.com/lightdutytowers/pdfs/64ft Titan Profiles.pdf


Hy-Gain

 

[mackmobile43]

Wow, it takes 12+ tons of concrete to support that puppy unguyed or 6 cubic yards.

 

[74IN]

Leverage is a bitch.

A short, light duty tower needs at least a yard (3800#) and that's a minimum.

Use a bell shaped hole with rebar.

I've heard of guys using a few bags of lumber yard mix, a recipe for failure.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Wow, it takes 12+ tons of concrete to support that puppy unguyed or 6 cubic yards.

Hell, I poured 5 yards for my 40 foot Delhi. Overkill? Yes, but I needed something in the back yard for the wife complain about. :laugh: Actually the tower was overloaded to begin with and I was taking no chances with the wind. Wind loading is less now than when it first went up.

Leverage is a bitch.

A short, light duty tower needs at least a yard (3800#) and that's a minimum.

Use a bell shaped hole with rebar.

I've heard of guys using a few bags of lumber yard mix, a recipe for failure.

Been there,done that with several towers. The proper base thing, not the bags of Quick-crete. The TH-11-DX is about 12 square feet in size and that is a lot of leverage at 65-70 feet up. I tend to over-engineer tower and antenna erection a bit. It is far easier to do it with a bit of overkill the first time then it is to do it completely over again. Cheaper in the long run too.

 

[K8PG]

ONLY $$$$$

LOOK AT THE MOSLEYS-YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR-GL

Paul -K8PG CW IS AMATURE RADIO

 

[HiDef]

Too bad you can't use a quad. I agree with your decision based on the climate.

How about looking for a pre-owned crankup tower?

I used to have a 70 foot freestanding monster. It's been replaced with an acient crankup 71 footer. Wher the wx gets bad wifey knows how to lower the thing with the electric winch.

I feel a whole lot better not climbing any higher than 26 feet now.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

LOOK AT THE MOSLEYS-YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR-GL

Paul -K8PG CW IS AMATURE RADIO

I did and did not like the fact that the antennas that I could accomodate here AND afford showed no gain on 12 or 17m.they were simply a rotatable dipole on those bands. That's a lot of $$$ for two bands with zero gain. At least the Hygains have some gain on all five bands.

Too bad you can't use a quad. I agree with your decision based on the climate.

How about looking for a pre-owned crankup tower?

I used to have a 70 foot freestanding monster. It's been replaced with an acient crankup 71 footer. Wher the wx gets bad wifey knows how to lower the thing with the electric winch.

I feel a whole lot better not climbing any higher than 26 feet now.

Well with a few other things I have going on right now I have some time to keep looking and planning but I have pretty much decided on the Titan tower with the TH11-DX unless I can find something used in really great shape for a bucket load less $$. If I could just win the lottery all this would be pointless.