I've been wondering and pondering that particular tower for about 30 years! It's nice to finally see someone use it. I have a 1955 HB and copied the simple dipole fed with 300 ohm open wire twin lead as my main antenna. Other than having to untwist it a cut some small pieces of pvc pipe to replace the broken spreaders, it's really good! Even snow and ice doesn't mess with it too bad, and it's gone off of the wires in a day anyway. The twin lead is ties with bits of broken wire, scrap plywood pieces to space it away from my barn. It's SO LOW, that when I split fire wood, I've hit it with the axe and hadnto hook it back up! Got to listen to the radio while splitting wood! I might win W2UD's "ugliest antenna award" contest! The twin lead open wire line goes right under my window and the two wires hook directly to the matching unit! NO COAX!!! Too broke, too unemployed! I can almost reach and touch the ends of my dipole which are less than 15 feet off the ground. The feed point is under 40 feet off the ground. I've NEVER had an antenna even close to 1/2 wave off the ground, except for two meters, which I have not operated two meters since I moved to Maine 14 years ago. I've been able to work 80-10 meters without any aparent disadvantages over the other 100 watt stations on the air. One thing about Maine is we're the closest to Europe and Africa and MOST antennas in the U.S. are already pointing my direction, which is a noticeable difference from when I spent 17 years operating my station in SC. , even with a beam up 45 feet. I always buy the cheapest 3/16' POLYESTER rope Wal-Mart sells in a 50 foot piece in a bag. NOT (NOT NOT POLYPROPYLENE!! Which is only good for water skiing. Nylon is EXCELLENT rope, but it stretches a LOT, which is good. Anyway long story short, if it's wrong (with antennas, that is,) I've done it! Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and thanks a lot for all you do.
That's something! The problem with the average rope is stretching and degradation due to ultraviolet light. Eons ago I used the real heavy gauge, galvanized steel electric fence wire (like 12 AWG). A regular, real tower ... not such a good idea. You will see why when my next video comes out. 🙂
@@eie_for_you Polyester and nylon are sunlight resistant, especially polyester. (those pants from the '70's will never break down!) On another note, I did knowingly make some contacts while my antenna was on the ground after an ice storm and it performed rather well! Of course a matching unit was involved. They should have a contest like field day where the whole point is to have the most dysfunctional antenna that can still make contacts. Can be a lot of fun and teach about antenna physics (physics is phun)! Take care!
The funny thing is, I bought a 500 ft roll that's been unopened in my attic since 2012! The open wire works so well, I haven't bothered to replace it. Lil' Abner would be proud of my ant. :) 73!
@@eie_for_you I meant to say LMR-400 above. I have an unopened 500 foot spool of it! The ladder line works so well on every band 80-10 meters, I just can't see replacing it. Some heavier gauge wire and better spacers to make the ladder line would be a great start. I don't know if 600 ohm would be electrically better feed line, but it would be more robust mechanically and less likely to short against itself.
Thanks for showing this design. I have an handbook that show similar design if not exactly. Many people printed handbooks or smaller books about antenna: I have one book just on verticals and another just on wire antenna.
"You are a good antenna. I trust you. You did a good job in catching those small signals amidst that sea of noise. I wish more antennas were as good as you are. Not a sign of rust, all your dBs look like new. Keep doing what you do, I need an antenna like you."
Great video, Ralph! I along with the help of my Elmer (a mentor in ham radio parlance for those who do not know what an Elmer is) built something very similar back when I was a Novice in the late 70s. The old ways are the best ways.
If you use something like Dacron synthetic cord for the guy's you don't have to worry about "non-resonant" length, it's not metallic. I haven't used metal guy wires in years. Modern synthetic cord is amazingly strong, stronger than steel if appropriately sized. Even my towers are supported with commercial guy rope (Phillystran) and approved dead ends.
Suggestion: When using synthetic guy rope, use four to six foot of metal guy at the ground anchor point. It eliminates problems that one could have with chewing animals, minor grass fires, and string trimmer accidents.
I've never used anything but wire rope or metal wire for guy wires. I'm still a wire rope kinda guy (pun intended). For something like this with as many guys as it has on it, we are not talking very big stuff, for sure. Interesting thought about this synthetic stuff. 🙂
@@eie_for_you A friend who is a commercial tower climber introduced me to synthetic line. Apparently that's what they use on a lot of commercial broadcast tower installations these days. Ever since then that's what I have used for tower installations. The end is terminated just like a commercial wire rope would be, a eyelet type "dead end". Think of a piece of wire rope folded over to form a eyelet and then each end is twisted around like a barber pole. The inside diameter of that twisted barber pole is coated with a grit material. It is wrapped around the synthetic rope end (actually the same thing has been used with wire rope guy lines for a few decades) and that's it, no clamps needed.
Interesting design. Thanks for posting. As a new ham back in 1998(?), I'd thumb through some of these older antenna books at ham fests. Often, I'd find something that piqued my interest. There are a plethora of classic wire antenna and support structure designs. Still have a decent copy from the mid 1970s which hasn't completely disintegrated. I tell the new hams to pick up mint copies if they come across one. They can be had for $3 - $10 plus they're a wealth of knowledge. Many variations of the end fed long wire designs which have been all the rage for the past decade or so, have all been around for almost a century now. Never would have ventured into using twin lead or ladder line designs without one of these older books. Merry Christmas and 73 de N2TEE
I've used these masts for 50 years at several locations. Guying properly is very important! Instead of pulleys at the top for the antenna halyards, I use a ring bolt. With this, you can pull in replacement halyards easily because the ring will pass a splice and the pulley will not.
I use a old 4.5 metre aluminium ladder, fixed to a old railway carriage . I then use 2 alloy pole that fit inside each other with a 1m overlap with a small plastic 2" pipe at the top this gives me about 9m .lean it against the fixed in place ladder , then push it up about half way rope and fix pole to ladder. This gives me about 40 feet (12m). I think my idea came from the same design you described from a old ARRL antenna book ?
I've seen that kind of setup in the more recent handbooks. In those illustrations, they show the feet of the ladder sitting in a hole that they dug for it. :-)
You're right. I've passed the supporting rope through a pulley and down to a 40 pound weight. As the tree blows in the wind, the weight goes up and down and the tension on the antenna remains the same. This saved my antenna a lot of grief. 🙂
Well ... it isn't recommended, but, I suppose, in a pinch, if it is carefully and thoughtfully performed, it *might* be possible. It is pretty tipsy until the guys are in place. I have a 20 foot mast made of steel pipe that I put up by myself. The guys are already attached and premeasured. Pushing the mast up and against the guys as I sweep the base along the ground, I get the job done alone. With that said, it is a LOT easier ... and **safer** with two. 🙂
I've been wondering and pondering that particular tower for about 30 years! It's nice to finally see someone use it. I have a 1955 HB and copied the simple dipole fed with 300 ohm open wire twin lead as my main antenna. Other than having to untwist it a cut some small pieces of pvc pipe to replace the broken spreaders, it's really good! Even snow and ice doesn't mess with it too bad, and it's gone off of the wires in a day anyway. The twin lead is ties with bits of broken wire, scrap plywood pieces to space it away from my barn. It's SO LOW, that when I split fire wood, I've hit it with the axe and hadnto hook it back up! Got to listen to the radio while splitting wood! I might win W2UD's "ugliest antenna award" contest! The twin lead open wire line goes right under my window and the two wires hook directly to the matching unit! NO COAX!!! Too broke, too unemployed! I can almost reach and touch the ends of my dipole which are less than 15 feet off the ground. The feed point is under 40 feet off the ground. I've NEVER had an antenna even close to 1/2 wave off the ground, except for two meters, which I have not operated two meters since I moved to Maine 14 years ago. I've been able to work 80-10 meters without any aparent disadvantages over the other 100 watt stations on the air. One thing about Maine is we're the closest to Europe and Africa and MOST antennas in the U.S. are already pointing my direction, which is a noticeable difference from when I spent 17 years operating my station in SC. , even with a beam up 45 feet. I always buy the cheapest 3/16' POLYESTER rope Wal-Mart sells in a 50 foot piece in a bag. NOT (NOT NOT POLYPROPYLENE!! Which is only good for water skiing.
Nylon is EXCELLENT rope, but it stretches a LOT, which is good. Anyway long story short, if it's wrong (with antennas, that is,) I've done it! Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and thanks a lot for all you do.
That's something! The problem with the average rope is stretching and degradation due to ultraviolet light. Eons ago I used the real heavy gauge, galvanized steel electric fence wire (like 12 AWG). A regular, real tower ... not such a good idea. You will see why when my next video comes out. 🙂
@@eie_for_you Polyester and nylon are sunlight resistant, especially polyester. (those pants from the '70's will never break down!) On another note, I did knowingly make some contacts while my antenna was on the ground after an ice storm and it performed rather well! Of course a matching unit was involved. They should have a contest like field day where the whole point is to have the most dysfunctional antenna that can still make contacts. Can be a lot of fun and teach about antenna physics (physics is phun)! Take care!
The funny thing is, I bought a 500 ft roll that's been unopened in my attic since 2012! The open wire works so well, I haven't bothered to replace it. Lil' Abner would be proud of my ant. :) 73!
@@W1RMD I can see it now ... rope woven out of a whole bunch of disco suits that you bought from the thrift store! LOL 😀
@@eie_for_you I meant to say LMR-400 above. I have an unopened 500 foot spool of it! The ladder line works so well on every band 80-10 meters, I just can't see replacing it. Some heavier gauge wire and better spacers to make the ladder line would be a great start. I don't know if 600 ohm would be electrically better feed line, but it would be more robust mechanically and less likely to short against itself.
Thanks for showing this design. I have an handbook that show similar design if not exactly. Many people printed handbooks or smaller books about antenna: I have one book just on verticals and another just on wire antenna.
Aaah, so someone copied from the A.R.R.L. (or did they copy from someone else?). Isn't it *FUN* to play with antenna designs?! 🙂
"You are a good antenna. I trust you. You did a good job in catching those small signals amidst that sea of noise. I wish more antennas were as good as you are. Not a sign of rust, all your dBs look like new. Keep doing what you do, I need an antenna like you."
Thank you very much!:-)
Looks perfect for a horizontal loop!
Great video, Ralph! I along with the help of my Elmer (a mentor in ham radio parlance for those who do not know what an Elmer is)
built something very similar back when I was a Novice in the late 70s. The old ways are the best ways.
Sometimes that is sooo true! 🙂
If you use something like Dacron synthetic cord for the guy's you don't have to worry about "non-resonant" length, it's not metallic. I haven't used metal guy wires in years. Modern synthetic cord is amazingly strong, stronger than steel if appropriately sized. Even my towers are supported with commercial guy rope (Phillystran) and approved dead ends.
Suggestion: When using synthetic guy rope, use four to six foot of metal guy at the ground anchor point. It eliminates problems that one could have with chewing animals, minor grass fires, and string trimmer accidents.
I've never used anything but wire rope or metal wire for guy wires. I'm still a wire rope kinda guy (pun intended). For something like this with as many guys as it has on it, we are not talking very big stuff, for sure. Interesting thought about this synthetic stuff. 🙂
@@eie_for_you A friend who is a commercial tower climber introduced me to synthetic line. Apparently that's what they use on a lot of commercial broadcast tower installations these days. Ever since then that's what I have used for tower installations. The end is terminated just like a commercial wire rope would be, a eyelet type "dead end". Think of a piece of wire rope folded over to form a eyelet and then each end is twisted around like a barber pole. The inside diameter of that twisted barber pole is coated with a grit material. It is wrapped around the synthetic rope end (actually the same thing has been used with wire rope guy lines for a few decades) and that's it, no clamps needed.
@@mikesradiorepair Cool! 🙂
This a great idea you have resurrected from arrl. I wonder if a vertical wire run along the upper part would work too?
Interesting design. Thanks for posting. As a new ham back in 1998(?), I'd thumb through some of these older antenna books at ham fests. Often, I'd find something that piqued my interest. There are a plethora of classic wire antenna and support structure designs. Still have a decent copy from the mid 1970s which hasn't completely disintegrated. I tell the new hams to pick up mint copies if they come across one. They can be had for $3 - $10 plus they're a wealth of knowledge. Many variations of the end fed long wire designs which have been all the rage for the past decade or so, have all been around for almost a century now. Never would have ventured into using twin lead or ladder line designs without one of these older books. Merry Christmas and 73 de N2TEE
Merry Christmas to you and yours, too! 73 🙂
I made one of these years ago but for CB. It works, but I suggest clamping the splice with u bolts to avoid weakening the lumber with a thru hole.
I can see your point, especially when made with 2x2s. I made mine with 2x4s, so that didn't end up being an issue for me. 🙂
I've used these masts for 50 years at several locations. Guying properly is very important! Instead of pulleys at the top for the antenna halyards, I use a ring bolt. With this, you can pull in replacement halyards easily because the ring will pass a splice and the pulley will not.
Yup, they are a great design! ... and inexpensive, too! I've seen the eye bolt used, too. 🙂
Nice wooded antenna mast. Well thought out, and the build explanation is very clear. Thanks. Vic de KE8JWE
Thanks Vic! 73 and Merry Christmas to you and yours! 🙂
👍Thank you sir.
You are most welcome! 🙂
I use a old 4.5 metre aluminium ladder, fixed to a old railway carriage . I then use 2 alloy pole that fit inside each other with a 1m overlap with a small plastic 2" pipe at the top this gives me about 9m .lean it against the fixed in place ladder , then push it up about half way rope and fix pole to ladder. This gives me about 40 feet (12m). I think my idea came from the same design you described from a old ARRL antenna book ?
I've seen that kind of setup in the more recent handbooks. In those illustrations, they show the feet of the ladder sitting in a hole that they dug for it. :-)
0:30 Hi Ralph !!
Hi
You can use a fishing pole with great results, in some cases.
😲
Praise the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
Our God (the One and Only) is an awesome God! :-)
Yep. The drawing is straight out of ARRL publications from the 1970's. I built a couple of 'em back in the day.
It sure is. My first exposure to it was with a 1940 handbook! 😲
Trees can be way too big also, a wire in a big doug fir won't survive long.
You're right. I've passed the supporting rope through a pulley and down to a 40 pound weight. As the tree blows in the wind, the weight goes up and down and the tension on the antenna remains the same. This saved my antenna a lot of grief. 🙂
Are you able to erect this “tree” by yourself?
Well ... it isn't recommended, but, I suppose, in a pinch, if it is carefully and thoughtfully performed, it *might* be possible. It is pretty tipsy until the guys are in place. I have a 20 foot mast made of steel pipe that I put up by myself. The guys are already attached and premeasured. Pushing the mast up and against the guys as I sweep the base along the ground, I get the job done alone. With that said, it is a LOT easier ... and **safer** with two. 🙂