Mounting All Hardware on the tower

[MrCoffee]

 

Hello,

Has anyone installed an entire system on a tower?  

I have an outside utility box that I believe its big enough to fit two mobile radios, a duplexer (flat Pack) and a power supply and a fan.

My thoughts are installing this near the top of a 50 foot tower and running 120 volts AC up the tower to the utility box to feed the power supply.

Also a GFI and any other safety switches to prevent any hazard situations.  Also maybe an internet connection to an AC outlet to cut the power

off from another location in case of an emergency.  I am sure there are other safety ideas and such.

Now there will be heat issues in the Summer time and probably moisture issues too.  In the winter, perhaps moisture as well.  Also I am sure 

there will be some insect or even ants finding their way in as well.

But is there anyone who has given this a try?  I am looking for results, and of course issues!

Since there will be signal loss in the flat pack, and of course in the coax if ran at long distance, this may be an alternative way to get a better signal

over the air.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

MrCoffee

[MrCoffee]

Okay let's work this out.  (Seriously)

Point to me where to purchase an omi directional antenna with 12db?

Thanks for the reply. 

MrCoffee

 

 

[gortex2]

The RT97 and Midland MXR10 are ideal applications for this. Short piece of feedline and the antenna on the tower. Small wind load. The issue you will have is dependingo n tower size and box size is windload. 

[SteveShannon]

12 hours ago, MrCoffee said:

Okay let's work this out.  (Seriously)

Point to me where to purchase an omi directional antenna with 12db?

Thanks for the reply. 

MrCoffee

 

 

You probably can’t, at least not if the gain is expressed in dBd rather than dBi.  You might not even want one with that high of gain if you could get it. Lack of ERP is seldom the limiting factor for range. The Comet ca-712efc advertises 9 dBi, which has 6.85 dB of gain when compared to a typical dipole. https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/cma-ca-712efc

 

[gortex2]

Even in commercial LMR you wont find a 12db antenna in UHF. I think the best you will find is 10. And that will cost you in the ballpark of $5000 just for the antenna. And even more for the mount. A hobby antenna as Steve pointed out in 6-7 db range is about all you will find for cheap. 

This is an antenna I just used on a project....its 10db but also weighs 80#'s. Mount cost about $1500.

[tcp2525]

It's not worth the aggravation for a 50' tower when a good piece of, let me say it without laughing, Andrews Heliax will do the trick. If you are going to be doing this on a 500'+ tower it would make one think about it, but the maintenance logistics are terrible. Again, let me laugh while I say it again, Andrews Heliax. Proper tools and equipment trump fly-by-night installs..

[LeoG]

To see if he can.

[tcp2525]

8 hours ago, LeoG said:

To see if he can.

He definitely can. I seriously was thinking of doing the same for 1296, but a nice hunk of 1-1/4" Heliax put that to rest.

[LeoG]

How do you know he'll get no real world gain?  From what I can tell if you are doing theoretical vs real life they never match up.  It's his time to use.  It's just as possible he's right and you aren't or vice versa.  Might be just enough to punch through his obstacle.  I know adding 2 watts to my setup made a big difference.  Just had that little bit of extra oomph to push through the leaves and get me a signal that was usable.

[Flameout]

On 11/27/2024 at 12:03 PM, tcp2525 said:

It's not worth the aggravation for a 50' tower when a good piece of, let me say it without laughing, Andrews Heliax will do the trick. If you are going to be doing this on a 500'+ tower it would make one think about it, but the maintenance logistics are terrible. Again, let me laugh while I say it again, Andrews Heliax. Proper tools and equipment trump fly-by-night installs..

What am I missing? I don't get the joke about using Andrew Heliax coax

[SteveShannon]

5 minutes ago, Flameout said:

What am I missing? I don't get the joke about using Andrew Heliax coax

You’re not missing anything. 

[WRXB215]

22 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

You’re not missing anything.

Well, for some of us, the price is laughable.

[Guest]

Waaaa?   Seams like a load of work for very little return.   Any loss can be made up in the antenna.   Let’s say your dulpexer takes 1/2 the watts and let’s say you started with 50w.  So you’re down to 25 w.  Let’s say a 50’ run of lmr600 or better coax.  If you use a 12db antenna your back up to radiating over 320w.  I can talk simplex over 200miles well into the next state with a 20w radio and a 9db gain antenna radiating 110w. So why do you want to go through all this hassle for no real world return.