Antenna mast question anyone ever work or put one up ???

[JBAUTO]

Hey guys my house has a 60ft antenna mast and the controler here is not working. I wanna take the mast down but dunno how i would do that. I have some ideas but would like to hear how these things were installed in the first place.

Anyone shed some light??

Josh

 

[pst496]

is it a self support....like a lattice or mono pole or is a guide. do you know its loading?

 

[CraigFL]

What kind of mast?-- round tubing? Guy wires??

Some slide into themselves, section by section. Some are taken down by each 10 foot section- starting at the top, while some need to be lowered to the ground first.

 

[kbs2244]

Check out the Ham Radio sites.
Lots of DIY info.

 

[4StarCstms]

I've put em up before, but never sixty feet worth.. gotta be on a two story house or supported somehow.. Cant imagine a mast supporting that kinda load without some form of support..now a Tower thats another story.

When we put up towers, we'll erect the tower, then climb it to mount the antenna usually, unless its a crank over style tower (way nicer!)

 

[T1320T]

We took a couple of 3 legged towers down last summer, they were about 40' tall. We climbed up about 30' & tied a heavy rope to it, then attached the other end of the rope to a truck. I cut the legs of the tower w/ a sawzall as the truck pulled slightly to keep tension on the tower... worked well.

 

[Mattlt]

What kind of mast?-- round tubing? Guy wires??

Some slide into themselves, section by section. Some are taken down by each 10 foot section- starting at the top, while some need to be lowered to the ground first.

OP, Google the term "Gin Pole" to see how this works.

 

[JBAUTO]

Hey guys i measured it out. Its 46 feet tall here is a pic of it.

 

[CraigFL]

That's a tower. Some hinge at the bottom. It took six big guys to walk up the last one I helped on.

 

[JBAUTO]

I looked at the whole assembly. There is no hindge on it. Possibly the hidge assembly is barried under ground ?

I was thinking of getting a few guys tie 3 ropes on it. One to lower it and one on each side to guide it down. Once on the ground i wanted to make 2 poles a hindge assembly so that i could raise and lower it with only one rope.

Loosen the bolts and lift it up a few inches put to side then lower it down.

 

[Thirsty]

OP, Google the term "Gin Pole" to see how this works.

This ^ ,You need a gin pole and take it down in sections. then you sell them on Craigslist. Some people leave the bottom section buried in the dirt, it is probably buried with cement.

 

[BigMike782]

Mine is just like that and I need to take it down due to a limb hitting it in a storm.Mine is 3 C shaped channels in a triangular layout with no means to hinge it.I am HOPING I can tether it to some 4X4s buried in the ground and use my truck to lower it down.Once it's on the ground I can build a hinge to put it back up.

 

[RPH]

Looks like the one i have, mine the tower bolted to the cement mount. Unbolt one of the legs and it will hinge on the other two. Watch out for overhead lines and I leave it to you to figure the best way to control the decent.

 

[Graham08]

This ^ ,You need a gin pole and take it down in sections. then you sell them on Craigslist. Some people leave the bottom section buried in the dirt, it is probably buried with cement.

Are these actually worth something beyond scrap value? I have a similar tower that I'm planning on taking down...I don't want to test it as a lightning rod. I figured I would sell it for scrap, but if it's worth more on Craigslist...

 

[MotoDave]

I bet a local HAM would be happy with a free tower, they will probably even have some experience in taking them down and would do it for free.

 

[HOTFR8]

If you do not need to take it down hire a Cherry Picker to have a look at the top to see what is wrong. You may be able to fix it in place.

 

[Eric Commarato]

I bet a local HAM would be happy with a free tower, they will probably even have some experience in taking them down and would do it for free.

Contact your local Ham Radio Club. Many of them have gin poles to disasemble a tower like yours. Like the quote above state a local ham would love to have that tower.

Eric, N5XQ

 

[KEH]

First, locate the local Ham radio club. I assume the rotater is not working. Go outside and have someone work the controller. Listen to see if you can hear if the rotator making any noise. If it is dead quiet it is possible the controller is bad. Try another controller that is known to be good. If you want to get rid of the tower some hams would probably take it down for the tower. You need to feed them for politeness sake. Go to some club meetings, you might want to try Ham radio. You already have a small tower which is about 1/4 the station, an antenna being half the station. The radio(s) make up the rest.

DON'T try sawing the thing down. That's done only if the bolts holding the 10 foot sections together are too rusted to take out safely. If sawing is necessary, someone experienced should supervise it. Even a small tower has a lot of energy potential.

KEH