On Tue, 9 Feb 2016 09:30:10 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 8 Feb 2016 07:55:05 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 7 Feb 2016 12:11:35 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:
.....

Oh, OK. Most of us didn't make our own TV antennas. g

Most of us didn't make Air Force satellite communications gear either.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milstar

Gee, what kind of TV reception do you get from yours? And why are you
FFing around with antennas?


When ice, wind or falling branches overwhelm it, the steel tube
bends
at the top of the fixed section and costs me about 3 days worth of
cable bill to replace. I bought and predrilled several spare
sections.
In three out of four falls the antenna wasn't damaged and it's back
together now with wooden dipole insulators.

Whoa, falling branches? If you have trees close enough to damage an
antenna tower, you have trees -far- too close to the house.

Ya think?

I do.


The problem was access. When the neighbor on that side decided to have
some trees taken down and finally accepted that it would require a
crane parked on his lawn I joined in to have my risky trees on that
side removed too. Thus the sawmill operation, they were mature oaks
and too good to waste as firewood. They are now a stack of beams for
the permanent shed I can put up in the space they threatened. However
the outer ends of the guy lines necessarily attach to trees which can
drop branches on them.

Yes, a problem.


We have a week of storms predicted and there's nothing I want to
watch
this week on local TV that I can't get from a Boston station so it's
staying down until the weather improves. I have an flat,
unobstructed
line of sight to Boston and that antenna is down low. The local
stations retained their VHF channels which require a larger, more
fragile antenna than UHF-only Boston.

We just finished playing with those storms, so I hope you enjoy
them.
What coatings have you tried on the guy wires to prevent icing?

The guy lines are 80 lb braided Dacron fishing line. When new they
have a smooth slippery finish but it weathers off. Lowering the mast
solves the icing issue IF the forecast is correct. The lower sections
now connect with hitch pins I can remove in the dark wearing gloves.
http://www.linkagepin.com/wire_lock_pin_round_type.html

Custom antenny, custom lines, eh? OK.


The intent is to lower the antenna for bad weather, assuming they
predict it correctly which they didn't. The local joke is that we're
shoveling six inches of "partly cloudy".

Cute!


The antenna lowers very easily but the guy lines, rotator wires,
coax
and the heavy ground wire tangle and make it troublesome to raise
afterwards, and impossible if they are caught in ice. Of course it
may have to come down late at night in a cold, windy rain or sleet
while I can wait for better conditions to haul it back up.

I sure don't miss fiddle****ing around with antennas, I tell ya.

The process is as simple as I can get it.

That's good.


I can lower the antennas and
clean my chimney from the ground. The UHF antenna lowers to roof
access height with no tools in 5 seconds. The antennas are attached to
5' mast sections that are easy to disconnect and lay on the roof. The
only significant difference between RS mast and chain link fence top
rail is the looser fit at the joints, which I shimmed with Gorilla
tape.

Ah, Gorilla tape, the "good stuff"...


The screws that hold them together prevent rotation and keep the
joints from freezing solid like rusty RS mast.

Rusty pipes are sooooo much fun to work with, aren't they?

--
I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people
who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.
-- Anna Quindlen