Despite the tower foundation is level it seems my tower itself isn't. It is one of the things I have to get right before I can think about mounting antennas. Not that you can't mount antennas in a mast that is off level but I don't feel right about it personally. I guess I'm a bit autistic ;-). I have to say that it gave me a headache more then once. How to get a antennatower of several hundred kilos of steel levelled....
Back to levelling then. The mast is over 40 years old and so I guess there is some wear. There is plenty of room at the hinged part of the mast which gives some possebilities. I choose to correct the tower at the base. Not easy but after some welding, grinding and breaking several drills I finally got it right. Some photos: |
| Correction part at the base |
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| Correction rings at the hinge |
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| Correction cutting and grinding base part of the tower |
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| Fits nicely! |
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| Reasonable level at the hinge now |
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| Level |
So, I thought I was ready now till I wanted to pull out the telescopic part of the tower....disaster strikes. The stainless steel cable broke and the part went down into the security lock. I'm happy there is some kind of security on that part....
8 comments:
Hallo Bas, een hele klus, aan de ene kant een tikkie jaloers op de ruimte die je hebt om zulke dingen neer te zetten, aan de andere kant ben ik gewoon blij met mijn draadje. ;-) 73 Paul PA0K
WOW what an adventure it’s great you were able to level out the tower but Murphy seems to be hanging around! I’m guessing you’re next post will be about steel cable replacement?
73
Mike
Good job! I always considered myself lucky to have obtained a level tower and accurately north-south aligned, as pouring the large volumes of heavy concrete disrupts all the careful planning and positioning! It's also often true that one spirit level gives a different result to another spirit level!
Hallo Paul, met een draad gaat het ook prima. En ik weet nog hoe jij ooit weer begon met zo een klein sprietje achter op de radio. Wat geeft meer voldoening. Ik heb de ruimte en ik had de mast al. Ik vind het bouwen en test van antennes ook leuk en dit is ook alweer een hele uitdaging. De hobby houd ons wel bezig ;-). 73, Bas
Hello Mike, replacement of the cable was not a big adventure. A matter of ordering a new cable and replace the old one. It has been done and the tower is at full heigth again. However I changed the 3mm cable for a 4mm one just to be shure in the future. 73, Bas
Hello John, the tower I got is very old and has some wear. I guess that was causing the off level as well. Just to be shure I bought a new spirit level as I didn't trust my old one. But both are giving exact same results now. I'm glad the tower is level now....next step might be a 6m beam on top. 73, Bas
Hallo Bas, mooi dat de mast steeds meer vorm begint te krijgen. Volgende stap is dat de antennes er (eindelijk) in gehangen kunnen worden. En wat een mazzel met die staalkabel, goed plan om van een iets dikkere staalkabel te gebruiken. A.s. woensdag zal ik je mast live aanschouwen Ik ben benieuwd. CU soon hi, 73 Hans, PE1BVQ
Zeker Hans, de mast is er klaar voor. Ben nu met de bekabeling bezig. Shack ligt overhoop. 73, Bas
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