Hello David. An FYI...Great tower setup and nice to see 80 feet of Rohn 25 does not bend too much when being raised from horizontal to vertical. Liked you home brew pulley's and thought I might try that too. One thing, using an electric winch does require stopping every so often to keep from burning up the motor. They won't stand running them for over a minute or two safely is my guess. I know, I wore out two 8000# Harbor Freight 'Chicago' winches which was probably my own fault. Now I have a Ramsey RE8000 worm gear winch that works great and holds the load in any location while going up and down. Great for building quad arrays or any such thing. Like your setup. Terry
Very Nice! I have an aluminum street light pole that got damaged by the base's corner being busted off. It hopefully will be my tower after I regain my ham license and put a new station up.
I have a very similar set up on my rohn 25 at 55' except for the dual pullys on the tower . Thanks , I will now be adding that to mine . We have talked before on .52 . ... till next time KI5GKS
Worked in Florida, worst lightning in the US! I have found that lighting does what it wants to do. I have seen it blow the connector off the coax and only blow the fuse in the radio, and have seen it blow components off the boards and not do anything to the antana or cables. Found more is better when it comes to lighting protection! Ground the coax at the bottom or the lowest point as it leaves the tower!
Funny for a second there I thought the tower was on your dog's head, lol. I put up a tower years ago homemade hinged like you back then I raised it by putting a rope over top of the house and pulling it with my truck. Now living in town, I only have about 75 feet between my house and the garage and I'm looking to do it like you with a guyed winch. 🖐🏻73's🎙🎧KD9OAM📻 📡
Thanks for posting the good video. I love seeing how other guys do their ham thing. I run stacked A147-11's on a 40' self supporting tv tower. Just a share point: I run Alpha Deltas on all my antenna leads. I designed and built a grounding block that is bonded to my single point "Chatsworth" grounding plate in the shack. The grounding block gives me a place to "park" my antenna connectors when I disconnect them from the radios instead of just laying the cable across the bench, etc. My idea about lightning protection is to prevent or at least lessen the chances of a direct strike by lowering the difference in potential to as close to zero as possible. This is something my old high school electronics ham radio teacher taught me and it has served me well for over 40 years with no direct strikes to my station. Lots of very close, holy crap! calls though. Anyway, thanks for posting and yes, I'd definitely install an electric winch on that tower. 73
yeah leaving a loose coax cable hanging is asking for trouble! I take a grounded SO-239 mounted to my rack so i plug the loose end into it after i unplug. i doubt it will save the coax but should keep it from flying around in the shack!
That's interesting. So being not very technical here but seeing how a lightning strike tore up dads station when I was a kid. Will a strike still come through the coax and just go to ground instead of hurting things or how?
I JUST re-found this video to look see . I'm going to lower my 60' 25g and add to it , needed to look at your cable hook-up rig again so I could copy it . The way it is now mY tower bows a little when I raise / lower it . KI5GKS ... 73
Thanks for Giving Me Some Ideas for 2 Pulley Points.. I need to fabricate a Winch for one of my towers .. Regarding Lighning-- as the ole' sayin' goes.. Lightning Does Whatever The Heck it Wants to Do! Good Thing your Radios were unplugged! Here in Florida is Lightning Capitol of the world. I Disconnect All Radios when Not in Use during Storm Season.
I think your pulley loop arrangement is great. I've built several towers similar but never come up with the idea of two pulleys on the tower, one above the other. Slick! Terry, KI7M
I would like to reply on his wire rope rigging,Ive never seen this type of rigging but I have a 70 ft rohn tower and the way I rigged it was you use 3 pullies 2 on the gin pole and one on the tower this makes it so it want sag in the middle,First you do is start your end at the hand winch and feed it thro the pully on top of the gin pole and run it say in the middle of your tower where there will be a pully then run it back to the gin pole and out to the end or where it will not be in the way of anything and tie it off at you hand crank and add as much as you need to, to over lap so it dont slip off.With this set up you pull both the end and the middle at the same time with same amount of lift,with a lon enouf genpole you could rase a 100 ft with a 30 ft gin pole,also you could add 2 pullies and a tie off on the tower if you are lifting one that is heavy.also Ive learned the by keeping the hand winch tight it helps stabilize the tower adding another guid wire to it, Just my 2 cents
A safety note: The guy wire fasteners are installed backward. The "U" should surround the dead pigtail and the "U Saddle" should surround the loaded cable.
Did you have a good ground strap AROUND your rotor from the mast above to the tower leg below to divert those lightning strikes so they go to the tower and down to ground instead of THRU your rotor to ground.
The best earth ground goes as deep as it can. Of all the tower videos I have watched, nobody puts the spike in at the bottom of the hole below the concrete, but does it at the side afterwards.
@@kevink5kev959 the preferred way is to install a 3/4 inch PVC pipe in the foundation hole before the concrete is installed, tape off the top of the PVC tube of course. Then drop in the ground rod. When the strike hits the rod, the rod can expand but will not explode the concrete.
But that's my favorite part: watching the tower go up. You can't leave that out!! Don't you have a tripod (for the camcorder)? And wouldn't any kids or grand kids help out with the crank up? I have a 110' aluminum (Universal) tower w/ 2m, 440 and 222 beams. I used a 90' oak tree with a pulley at 55' and used my pickup to pull it up. Some day I'll have to post the video. Got some scenes from the top of the tower too, but like you I'm getting too old to climb it to do ant/rotor/coax work any more and think I may take it down and put smaller ants up, maybe just a repeater. ka2hng
Just thinking, with the 2 pulley system, when you crank it up you are pulling "two" times as much "cable" as you would with a single cable. If you had a wench with a 2/1 ratio wouldn't it do the same thing with a single cable? I have put up lots of towers in my time but being 83 I don't climb too well now. I had a 200 ft Rohn 25 that I put up years ago that I just took down but it was by accident. I was pulling a guy wire out of a tree with my truck and it hung another guy wire and down came the tower.------- UH OH!!!
I have the tower and I can’t find the tilt base.It will only be 40’ of tower and 10’ of mast for my Diamond V2000 vertical.I have 50’ now with 20’ of mast with a Five Band HF Yagi,5 element 6 meter Yagi and a 15 element 2 meter Yagi along with a G5RV and a 160 meter half Sloper on it.
The dog is dead! He's so chill, he didn't even move, when the winch made a bunch of noise! Not to mention, if the cable breaks he's in the line of fire!
Please watch "everythingsafetyntraining.com/2016/09/17/saddle-bolts-safety-never-saddle-a-dead-horse/" to properly place your saddle bolts. Please get the lightning protection book from the ARRL. Your problem is that the lightning hit the top where the rotor is. A lightning bolt is considered a current source of 10K to 100K amps. If the impedance (R +L) from the top of your tower to your "ground" is 1 ohm, then you have 10K volts to 100K volts at the rotor which came in the house and jumped over to lower potential devices. Each leg of the tower should be grounded with at least an 8 ft copper clad rods connected with a copper strip. Do not use braid for outside work. In addition, you should have a very low impedance path to the power entry of your house using copper water pipe. You may need to add another copper ground rod at the power entry. Don't rely on the one placed there when the house was built. All your coaxes should be tied to the tower at the top and bottom with coax grounding brackets."www.dxengineering.com/search/department/grounding-and-lightning-protection/product-line/dx-engineering-coax-grounding-brackets?autoview=SKU&sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending" You would need to find some that will accommodate you coax. Your rotor cable needs to get proper lightning protection."www.dxengineering.com/search/department/grounding-and-lightning-protection/product-line/dx-engineering-rotator-control-line-protectors?autoview=SKU&sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending". Your station is very unsafe. Read the book and follow the book as best as you can. If your house catches fire, the insurance company may not cover your losses due to improper lightning protection from your towers to the house and your power entry panel.
i know this is a old vid. but would there be any draw back to moving the rotor to ground level and running heavy plastic pipe to the mast pole ,might make it easy to work on?
Are the boom from cushcraft for vhf 2m 4 wings is good for long distance with amplifier output 1500 w i think for bay new dual wing but i think 4 is better Regards from Saudi Arabia with love.
Another option for a winch, find a farmers silo unloaded winch with an electric motor, they were designed to raise the unloaded before filling again. It took a while for it to get back to the top. Some of the systems used double cables to do the lifting.
This is so awesome! Sir, could you tell me more about where (what height from ground?) you have the pulleys on the tower mounted and how big is the pipe inside your 4-1/2 inch pipe, is it also 24 foot long? I also have exactly 70 foot of Rohn-25 and I want to put mine up the same as you.
Hi, I could feel my arm cramping and tiring watching you crank..! On that electric wench..dynamic mechanical brake and leave the well greased crank as failsafe. I won't imagine electric wench failing and having to hire your neighborhood eighteen year old as your backup arms ?!🌝 Job and design well don. 73, Kb8qlz
I hope it was just Dog tired. Hihi My Lab-mix dog(SK) would have been right at my feet with one of her toys for me to throw. Luckily as we both got older the number of times I had to throw got fewer.
Thats normal for an older german shepard which has been treated well. They lay down trusting they won’t be hurt by the owner. Have similar individual at home, she is specialized in resting and sleeping 😂
LEMME GET THIS STRAIGHT ! YOU SAY YOU WENT TO THE "HARDWARE STORE . AND BOUGHT "AIRCRAFT CABLE?!?" AND 1/4" AIRCRAFT CABLE YOU SAY?!? LEMME SUM THIS UP SPARKY! NO YOU DIDN'T .....
You do realize that what he is referring to is an actual name of a type of commercially available cable right? He isn't referring to actual flight rated cable used in aircraft. It is a hold over from post ww2 when actual real 1/4" braided aircraft cable was available on the commercial market as surplus. Many different companies market it as such.
Well Mr Know it all Sparky...yes he did and you can as well. You can also buy it on eBay. Maybe...just maybe you could try doing a little research before you show everyone what you don't know.
Well produced. I like your two-pulley design and appreciate your research observations in their placement. Good approach all the way round. 73
Great video! Thank you for posting it. I have watched a LOT of tower videos, and enjoyed this one immensely. 73
Dogs - they're just like kids, gonna make themselves the center of attention no matter what.
Hello David. An FYI...Great tower setup and nice to see 80 feet of Rohn 25 does not bend too much when being raised from horizontal to vertical. Liked you home brew pulley's and thought I might try that too. One thing, using an electric winch does require stopping every so often to keep from burning up the motor. They won't stand running them for over a minute or two safely is my guess. I know, I wore out two 8000# Harbor Freight 'Chicago' winches which was probably my own fault. Now I have a Ramsey RE8000 worm gear winch that works great and holds the load in any location while going up and down. Great for building quad arrays or any such thing. Like your setup. Terry
Very Nice! I have an aluminum street light pole that got damaged by the base's corner being busted off. It hopefully will be my tower after I regain my ham license and put a new station up.
Thanks for sharing.... Lots of good information... This is the most helpful video I’ve watched on antenna towers and more....
Pretty cool. I'm just now getting in to ham stuff. Studying for my tech at the moment. Cool to see another person in Kansas. Hiawatha Ks here.
Thanks for sharing your ideas. I have about 40 ft of Rohn 20G I want to make into a tilting tower.
I have a very similar set up on my rohn 25 at 55' except for the dual pullys on the tower . Thanks , I will now be adding that to mine . We have talked before on .52 . ... till next time KI5GKS
Worked in Florida, worst lightning in the US! I have found that lighting does what it wants to do. I have seen it blow the connector off the coax and only blow the fuse in the radio, and have seen it blow components off the boards and not do anything to the antana or cables. Found more is better when it comes to lighting protection! Ground the coax at the bottom or the lowest point as it leaves the tower!
Simply Genius young man!
Funny for a second there I thought the tower was on your dog's head, lol.
I put up a tower years ago homemade hinged like you back then I raised it by putting a rope over top of the house and pulling it with my truck. Now living in town, I only have about 75 feet between my house and the garage and I'm looking to do it like you with a guyed winch. 🖐🏻73's🎙🎧KD9OAM📻 📡
Thanks for posting the good video. I love seeing how other guys do their ham thing. I run stacked A147-11's on a 40' self supporting tv tower. Just a share point: I run Alpha Deltas on all my antenna leads. I designed and built a grounding block that is bonded to my single point "Chatsworth" grounding plate in the shack. The grounding block gives me a place to "park" my antenna connectors when I disconnect them from the radios instead of just laying the cable across the bench, etc. My idea about lightning protection is to prevent or at least lessen the chances of a direct strike by lowering the difference in potential to as close to zero as possible. This is something my old high school electronics ham radio teacher taught me and it has served me well for over 40 years with no direct strikes to my station. Lots of very close, holy crap! calls though. Anyway, thanks for posting and yes, I'd definitely install an electric winch on that tower. 73
yeah leaving a loose coax cable hanging is asking for trouble! I take a grounded SO-239 mounted to my rack so i plug the loose end into it after i unplug. i doubt it will save the coax but should keep it from flying around in the shack!
That's interesting. So being not very technical here but seeing how a lightning strike tore up dads station when I was a kid.
Will a strike still come through the coax and just go to ground instead of hurting things or how?
nice setup thank you for sharing!
I JUST re-found this video to look see . I'm going to lower my 60' 25g and add to it , needed to look at your cable hook-up rig again so I could copy it . The way it is now mY tower bows a little when I raise / lower it . KI5GKS ... 73
Thanks for Giving Me Some Ideas for 2 Pulley Points.. I need to fabricate a Winch for one of my towers ..
Regarding Lighning-- as the ole' sayin' goes.. Lightning Does Whatever The Heck it Wants to Do! Good Thing your Radios were unplugged!
Here in Florida is Lightning Capitol of the world. I Disconnect All Radios when Not in Use during Storm Season.
Nice set up
I think your pulley loop arrangement is great. I've built several towers similar but never come up with the idea of two pulleys on the tower, one above the other. Slick! Terry, KI7M
Nice way you do it for sure great with 2 wires as you do it here 73s
Know that area well, not sure how long you have had a tower but its amazing youve never been hit before
Great install. I never thought of the double tower mounted pulley scenario as a method of weight distribution...NICE! Good info to have now
Great tower good job
Love your property!
I would like to reply on his wire rope rigging,Ive never seen this type of rigging but I have a 70 ft rohn tower and the way I rigged it was you use 3 pullies 2 on the gin pole and one on the tower this makes it so it want sag in the middle,First you do is start your end at the hand winch and feed it thro the pully on top of the gin pole and run it say in the middle of your tower where there will be a pully then run it back to the gin pole and out to the end or where it will not be in the way of anything and tie it off at you hand crank and add as much as you need to, to over lap so it dont slip off.With this set up you pull both the end and the middle at the same time with same amount of lift,with a lon enouf genpole you could rase a 100 ft with a 30 ft gin pole,also you could add 2 pullies and a tie off on the tower if you are lifting one that is heavy.also Ive learned the by keeping the hand winch tight it helps stabilize the tower adding another guid wire to it, Just my 2 cents
A safety note: The guy wire fasteners are installed backward. The "U" should surround the dead pigtail and the "U Saddle" should surround the loaded cable.
Thank you for sharing this info. I didn’t realize it made a difference.
Dog picks an interesting place to lay down at the 15:00 mark.
Your doggo don't give a stinkin heck 👍😎
i like the way you made it although its manually erected & make a lot of efforts!
It was all going so well and then it stopped. David please come back for part 2,3,4 thanks.
OK fixed the video should go the whole length now
@@dave-n0mua771 Looking forward to watch it now :-)
KD9MBL that's a nice setup you got there just got my ticket myself
Did you have a good ground strap AROUND your rotor from the mast above to the tower leg below to divert those lightning strikes so they go to the tower and down to ground instead of THRU your rotor to ground.
you might want to take a look at the proper way to use wire rope clips and use the "don't saddle a dead horse" method.
Dave, don't disturb that dog.
Good design
What is a good way to get the tower to lean back, when lowering it?
The best earth ground goes as deep as it can. Of all the tower videos I have watched, nobody puts the spike in at the bottom of the hole below the concrete, but does it at the side afterwards.
Lightning discharge can blow concrete apart. That's why the rods are to the side.
the rods are on the side because lightning can blow the concrete and also so they can replaced later if they rust out.
@@kevink5kev959 the preferred way is to install a 3/4 inch PVC pipe in the foundation hole before the concrete is installed, tape off the top of the PVC tube of course. Then drop in the ground rod. When the strike hits the rod, the rod can expand but will not explode the concrete.
But that's my favorite part: watching the tower go up. You can't leave that out!! Don't you have a tripod (for the camcorder)? And wouldn't any kids or grand kids help out with the crank up? I have a 110' aluminum (Universal) tower w/ 2m, 440 and 222 beams. I used a 90' oak tree with a pulley at 55' and used my pickup to pull it up. Some day I'll have to post the video. Got some scenes from the top of the tower too, but like you I'm getting too old to climb it to do ant/rotor/coax work any more and think I may take it down and put smaller ants up, maybe just a repeater. ka2hng
what is the dimension of the concrete base? How deep and width and length? Thanks
Just thinking, with the 2 pulley system, when you crank it up you are pulling "two" times as much "cable" as you would with a single cable. If you had a wench with a 2/1 ratio wouldn't it do the same thing with a single cable? I have put up lots of towers in my time but being 83 I don't climb too well now. I had a 200 ft Rohn 25 that I put up years ago that I just took down but it was by accident. I was pulling a guy wire out of a tree with my truck and it hung another guy wire and down came the tower.------- UH OH!!!
handsome German Shepherd.
Rob White
I know. It was hard to concentrate on anything but the dog!
I have the tower and I can’t find the tilt base.It will only be 40’ of tower and 10’ of mast for my Diamond V2000 vertical.I have 50’ now with 20’ of mast with a Five Band HF Yagi,5 element 6 meter Yagi and a 15 element 2 meter Yagi along with a G5RV and a 160 meter half Sloper on it.
Your dog has full faith in your setup haha
Great design my friend 73
Kg5aub
How would this system work with a 100 ft tower?
great towers. how many miles can you reach with simplex
The dog is dead! He's so chill, he didn't even move, when the winch made a bunch of noise! Not to mention, if the cable breaks he's in the line of fire!
Get you a cheap harbor feight winch! hook it to that battery i see by the house! =]
Please watch "everythingsafetyntraining.com/2016/09/17/saddle-bolts-safety-never-saddle-a-dead-horse/" to properly place your saddle bolts.
Please get the lightning protection book from the ARRL. Your problem is that the lightning hit the top where the rotor is. A lightning bolt is considered a current source of 10K to 100K amps. If the impedance (R +L) from the top of your tower to your "ground" is 1 ohm, then you have 10K volts to 100K volts at the rotor which came in the house and jumped over to lower potential devices. Each leg of the tower should be grounded with at least an 8 ft copper clad rods connected with a copper strip. Do not use braid for outside work. In addition, you should have a very low impedance path to the power entry of your house using copper water pipe. You may need to add another copper ground rod at the power entry. Don't rely on the one placed there when the house was built. All your coaxes should be tied to the tower at the top and bottom with coax grounding brackets."www.dxengineering.com/search/department/grounding-and-lightning-protection/product-line/dx-engineering-coax-grounding-brackets?autoview=SKU&sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending" You would need to find some that will accommodate you coax. Your rotor cable needs to get proper lightning protection."www.dxengineering.com/search/department/grounding-and-lightning-protection/product-line/dx-engineering-rotator-control-line-protectors?autoview=SKU&sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending". Your station is very unsafe. Read the book and follow the book as best as you can. If your house catches fire, the insurance company may not cover your losses due to improper lightning protection from your towers to the house and your power entry panel.
I noticed and was gonna mention that also,but it is a neat setup
Hi David. Nice video. I’m curious. Was a thrust bearing used anywhere ? 73
Mike KA9GDW
thats nice set up how tall is your gin pole and how far up the tower did u hook your cable ? the video quit in the middle .
Ok fixed video should go all the way now
and does not show the tower go up....why why why why why
Dave, I see other towers in your yard. What HF antennas are you running? Are they also up ~70' ?
I think we talked on 146.520.
Have I heard you on the RCWA boredom breakers net? 147.090?
Really electric winch is the way to go.
You don't need a electric winch. Try to remove the handle and connect a cordless drill.!!!!! 74
Wish I could do a tilting base my club abandoned me
where did you find that post you use to raise your tower?
i know this is a old vid. but would there be any draw back to moving the rotor to ground level and running heavy plastic pipe to the mast pole ,might make it easy to work on?
piper jones that would probably work, but it doesn't take very long to crank down to work on it
So are those little in coax lightning arrestor just a waste of time or what?
Are the boom from cushcraft for vhf 2m 4 wings is good for long distance with amplifier output 1500 w i think for bay new dual wing but i think 4 is better
Regards from Saudi Arabia with love.
what size is the deadman for the winch?
I hope OSHA does not see the dog under the tower the my shut the job site down. 😁
Do you think this tower would be steady enough in wind for a 2000 ft line of sight point to point wireless antenna?
Need to move the dog
Gosh, what would it take to raise my 200 ft. Rohn 25 with a wench? I just climb it. Has been up close to 50 years.
Rohn 25G is only rated for 190’ max, properly guyed.
Another option for a winch, find a farmers silo unloaded winch with an electric motor, they were designed to raise the unloaded before filling again. It took a while for it to get back to the top. Some of the systems used double cables to do the lifting.
This is so awesome! Sir, could you tell me more about where (what height from ground?) you have the pulleys on the tower mounted and how big is the pipe inside your 4-1/2 inch pipe, is it also 24 foot long? I also have exactly 70 foot of Rohn-25 and I want to put mine up the same as you.
I guess that rotor motor windings are 'food' for the massive EMF generated by lightning.
Look us up on Facebook..
Amateur radio antennas large and small (all over the world)
Hi, I could feel my arm cramping and tiring watching you crank..! On that electric wench..dynamic mechanical brake and leave the well greased crank as failsafe. I won't imagine electric wench failing and having to hire your neighborhood eighteen year old as your backup arms ?!🌝
Job and design well don.
73,
Kb8qlz
Все отлично придумано, но слов очень много.
Dang man, did you drug your dog?
I hope it was just Dog tired. Hihi
My Lab-mix dog(SK) would have been right at my feet with one of her toys for me to throw. Luckily as we both got older the number of times I had to throw got fewer.
Thats normal for an older german shepard which has been treated well. They lay down trusting they won’t be hurt by the owner. Have similar individual at home, she is specialized in resting and sleeping 😂
Hell's favorite NPC #69OU812 . exe , let’s hope all goes well. Doggie could have picked a better place for a nap
After all that we don’t get to see the tower erected??
You’re ruining us!!!
Dog dies in freak tower accident lol. He finds the absolute most dangerous place to sleep. Nice set up though getting ready to put up my 75 footer.
Damn Son, you talk a lot.
VY 73 OZ1KAI
What if your cable snapped? Your dog would be dead.
That's why he replaces the cable every 3 years, so the dog won't die.
LEMME GET THIS STRAIGHT ! YOU SAY YOU WENT TO THE "HARDWARE STORE . AND BOUGHT "AIRCRAFT CABLE?!?"
AND 1/4" AIRCRAFT CABLE YOU SAY?!?
LEMME SUM THIS UP SPARKY!
NO YOU DIDN'T .....
You do realize that what he is referring to is an actual name of a type of commercially available cable right? He isn't referring to actual flight rated cable used in aircraft. It is a hold over from post ww2 when actual real 1/4" braided aircraft cable was available on the commercial market as surplus. Many different companies market it as such.
Well Mr Know it all Sparky...yes he did and you can as well. You can also buy it on eBay. Maybe...just maybe you could try doing a little research before you show everyone what you don't know.
I'd hate to QSO with this guy... Talk about long winded.
Your dog is dead.....
Good design