Mounting A99 Base Antenna

[loosecannon]

hey checo,

i used to use the "gable mounts" on the side of the house, and then one day a lightbulb went on in my head, and i realized that i could put a tripod in the center of the roof, and guy it at all four corners.
why hadnt i thought of this before!?

i went to lowe's, and got a 30' push up pole. (they still sell them for about 50 bucks, just not at every location)
then i bought a three foot tripod, and some dacron uv protected guy rope.

the cool thing about the tripod is that when it is mounted on the peak of the roof, two legs will be on one slope, and one will be on the opposite slope.
you can remove a bolt on the one legged side, and tilt the tripod down the slope of the roof.

so, with the tripod mounted and vertical, stick the pushup pole in it, and tighten the nuts.
then undo the bolt from the single leg side, and lower the push up pole down so that it is laying on the roof, pointing at the ground at an angle.
can you picture it?
now you can mount your antron to the top of the push up pole, attach your coax, tighten/weather seal everything, and attach your guy wires to the push up pole from the ground, or at least on a small ladder.

now just tilt the tripod back up by walking the pole up the roof, attach the bolt you removed, push the pole up, and attach your guy wires to the corners of the house.

i used a 6 foot "A" frame ladder on the peak of the roof to get up high enough to push the pole up. if you secure the guy wires for the first 10 foot section before you push the rest of the pole up, you will have a solid post to hold onto while climbing the ladder. it can get kinda scary up on a roof, up on a ladder, with nothing to hold onto.LOL

depending on the height of your house, you could get 40-50 feet to the base of the antenna, and it would be nice and safe, guyed every ten feet.

just something to think about.
good luck,
LC

 

[park]

hey checo,

i used to use the "gable mounts" on the side of the house, and then one day a lightbulb went on in my head, and i realized that i could put a tripod in the center of the roof, and guy it at all four corners.
why hadnt i thought of this before!?

i went to lowe's, and got a 30' push up pole. (they still sell them for about 50 bucks, just not at every location)
then i bought a three foot tripod, and some dacron uv protected guy rope.

the cool thing about the tripod is that when it is mounted on the peak of the roof, two legs will be on one slope, and one will be on the opposite slope.
you can remove a bolt on the one legged side, and tilt the tripod down the slope of the roof.

so, with the tripod mounted and vertical, stick the pushup pole in it, and tighten the nuts.
then undo the bolt from the single leg side, and lower the push up pole down so that it is laying on the roof, pointing at the ground at an angle.
can you picture it?
now you can mount your antron to the top of the push up pole, attach your coax, tighten/weather seal everything, and attach your guy wires to the push up pole from the ground, or at least on a small ladder.

now just tilt the tripod back up by walking the pole up the roof, attach the bolt you removed, push the pole up, and attach your guy wires to the corners of the house.

i used a 6 foot "A" frame ladder on the peak of the roof to get up high enough to push the pole up. if you secure the guy wires for the first 10 foot section before you push the rest of the pole up, you will have a solid post to hold onto while climbing the ladder. it can get kinda scary up on a roof, up on a ladder, with nothing to hold onto.LOL

depending on the height of your house, you could get 40-50 feet to the base of the antenna, and it would be nice and safe, guyed every ten feet.

just something to think about.
good luck,
LC

I'm sorry, but you have got to be kidding?! That is a LOT of trouble and not to safe.

chec0 we are making this way to hard. Yeah the higher your antenna the better, right? sure...but how much higher to REALLY make a differance. For now just put your a99 on the push up pole raise it up about 20 feet attach the pole to something (house) ajust your SWR and get on the air. I have had antennas at ground level and up to 75 feet and higher is better but sometimes you can hardly tell a differance. 73

 

[chec0]

Loosecannon that is alot of work and i think im alset with being on a ladder on my roof seeing as it would be a 35ft. drop, I think im gonna go with the gable mount and hope that it holds up
im only using a 4ft. mast and thats around 55ft. to the top of my antenna and i can get well over 40 miles with my 87GTL barefoot

 

[loosecannon]

LOL.
i've done stage rigging for a number of years now, and i guess i forget what might seem safe to me, may not to someone else.

checo and park, you are right. i should not recommend that anyone else get on a ladder on their roof.LOL

in my defense, i did not feel shaky or scared up there at all; it really was no big deal. i would not have done it if i didnt feel safe.

again, do not try this at home kids.

oh and BTW, that antenna install was done in an afternoon, by myself.
good luck with your install checo, and safety first!
LC