As I sit here writing this blog post at the end of the second day of work to install antennas on our new tower, I can reflect back on some pretty memorable experiences. I have certainly learned a great deal during the last few days.

The work began this past weekend with the final assembly and test of our 2m and 70cm beams. Both beams use mast-mounted boom truss plates and I wanted to fully assemble these ahead of the installation on the tower to set the boom support lines to the proper length and give them a chance to stretch a bit. To do this, we made a set of 10 ft test masts from some PVC electrical conduit. Shown here is our M2 2M18XXX 2m beam installed on the 3″ test mast. We also installed a short length of coax on the 2m beam so that we could check the antenna’s SWR performance prior to installation on the tower.

Our M2 440-21ATV 70cm beam has a 14 1/2 ft boom and did not come with a boom support truss. I am using LMR-600 UltraFlex coax for the rotator loop and feedline connection to this antenna. LMR-600 UltraFlex coax has a good deal weight to it. To prevent the boom from sagging due to the weight of the coax, M2 Systems provided us with a custom boom truss setup which is shown installed on the test mast. This should improve the reliability of this antenna and be easy to install. I also installed jam nuts on the boom truss turnbuckles for the 70cm and 2m antennas to prevent them from coming loose once they are on the tower.

With this work done, we were ready for Matt and Andrew at XX Towers. They arrived on Monday morning and began by prepping the 70cm and 2m beams for installation on the tower. I made up feedline extensions to go from the M2 Pre-amp Systems for these antennas on the tower to the antennas. I made up the extensions using LMR-600 UltraFlex cable for the 70cm beam and LMR-400 UltraFlex cable for the 2m beam, both with crimp-on N-connectors.  We are using a 2″ insulated mast extension (from M2 Systems) so that the 70cm beam does not “see” the mast which would adversely affect the antenna’s pattern. The 70cm beam is shown below installed on the fiberglass mast extension which is about 5 ft long. Matt attached the 70cm antenna, boom truss, and feedline to the mast extension on the ground to minimize the work required on the tower. He also attached the feedline to the 2m beam on the ground.

Finally, noting the rubber element boots on the SteppIR antennas are prone to UV damage, Andrew covered all of the boots on our SteppIR DB36’s with a layer of electrical tape to give them some additional UV protection and extend their life.

With all of the prep work done, it was time to start the installation of antennas on the tower. The first step was to pull the 3″ steel mast up the tower and clamp it inside the mast thrust bearing in preparation for the 70cm beam installation.

Next, the 70 cm beam and mast extension went up the tower and were installed on the mast.  The total length of the mast above the tower plus the extension will be about 20 ft. This will leave about 5-6 ft of the 3″ steel mast inside the tower which is just about right. After consulting with Jason at M2 Systems, we settled on the spacing between the three antennas on the mast – 6 ft between the 70cm and 2m beams and 10 ft between the 2m beam and the SteppIR DB36 which will be just above the top of the tower. This put the installed heights of the antennas at 118 ft (70cm yagi), 112 ft (2m yagi) and 101 ft for the SteppIR DB36 yagi.

After the 70cm beam was installed, Andrew pushed the mast up a few feet to prepare for the installation of the 2m beam and we hauled the 2m beam up the tower reflector end first.

Shown here are the 2m and 70cm beams fully installed on the mast. The 2m antenna has a 36 ft boom but it looks quite small at 100+ ft!

We choose an M2 OR2800PXAZ prop pitch style rotator to turn the upper three antennas on our tower. This heavy-duty unit was a good choice given the size and weight of the SteppIR DB36 yagi that it will be turning. Next up the tower was the rotator and associated base plate. With this installed, the mast was pushed fully up in preparation for the installation of the SteppIR DB36.

The DB36 is a big antenna and it weights about 165 lbs fully assembled. The best way to get it onto the mast at our site was via a tram line system. With the tram line cable rigged to the mast and a tree in the woods next to our yard, we attached the DB36 to it via a pulley and some cable clamps to anchor the pulley on the tram line. Matt then used a pair of come-a-longs to take the slack out of the tram line which lifted the DB36 off the ground. We then looped a light guideline around the end of one of the elements so that we could steer the DB36 as it went up the tower.

The next picture shows the DB36 about halfway up the tower. Note that we removed two of the three sets of top guys from the tower prior to this step to avoid the DB36’s elements entangling in the upper guy wires.

Once we had the DB36 fully up the tram line, Andrew attached it to the mast. All in all, the tram line system worked very well. It was an awesome experience to use this approach to lift such a large antenna into place!

With the three beams on the tower, the next order of business was to install the hard-line coax feedlines on the tower. We are installing a total of five hard-lines on our tower:

• A run of 1 5/8″ hard-line for the 70cm beam
• A run of 1 1/4″ hard-line for the 2m beam
• Two runs of 7/8′ hard-line for the two SteppIR DB36 beams
• A run of 1/2″ hard-line for the planned 80m and 160m wire antennas

The reels of hard-line coax are shown below.

Unfortunately, a business trip prevented me from being at home to help Matt and Andrew on the second day of the installation. They made a great deal of progress as you can see from the pictures below. They installed the K0XG ring rotator at the 60 ft level. The ring will turn the second of the two SteppIR DB36’s that will go on the tower. They also installed all of the tower-mounted electronics and switches. These are shown in the picture below – the items from top to bottom include: the M2 2m and 70 cm tower-mounted pre-amp systems, a DX Engineering Broadband Antenna Phasing System and our Custom Feedline Break-out System (both installed at 80 ft, the smaller light-colored box on the left is the feedline break-out), the K0XG ring rotator, and finally our previously installed Davis Wireless Weather Station at the bottom right. The K0XG Ring is a 115 VAC powered heavy-duty until that is extremely well-built. It should do a great job of rotating our lower SteppIR DB36 around the tower. You can also see four of the five hard-line cables in the picture.

The devices installed at the base of the tower include the control box for the K0XG Ring (left) and a DX Engineering Remote 8 Port Antenna Switch for the wire antennas (right).

I now need to build several sets of LMR-400 UltraFlex cables to connect the hard-lines and antennas to all of the electronics. Each of these cables will be tested with a dummy load and an antenna analyzer to ensure that they perform correctly before they go on the tower. The cables that run between the Stack Match, Feedline Break-out and the two SteppIR DB36’s must be built identically to ensure the best performance from the array of the two SteppIR’s. All of this is going to take a couple of evenings to complete. Matt and Andrew will be back later in the week to complete the installation of the feedlines and control cables.

You can read more about our tower project via the articles which follow:

• First Tower Part 1 – Ground Broken For New Tower!
• First Tower Part 2 – Tower/Antenna System Design Details And Equipment Ordering
• First Tower Part 3 – More Excavation For Feedline Conduits
• First Tower Part 4 – Tower/Antenna System Analysis And Design (Planning And EZNEC)
• First Tower Part 5 – Tower/Antenna System Analysis And Design (HFTA Analysis)
• First Tower Part 6 – We Have A Tower!
• First Tower Part 7 – 100 ft Tower Completed!
• First Tower Part 8 – VHF/UHF Antenna System Design
• First Tower Part 9 – Feedline Conduits And Electrical Power Complete
• First Tower Part 10 – Building Yagis (70 cm)
• First Tower Part 11 – Building Yagis (2m)
• First Tower Part 12 – Building Yagis (SteppIR DB36)
• First Tower Part 13 – Building Yagis (SteppIR DB36 Continued)
• First Tower Part 14 – Building Yagis (SteppIR DB36 Continued II)
• First Tower Part 15 – Building Yagis (SteppIR DB36 Completed)
• First Tower Part 16 – Building Yagis (Second SteppIR DB36 Completed)
• First Tower Part 17 – Feedline Breakout System
• First Tower Part 19 – Antennas On The Tower (System Integration)
• First Tower Part 20 – Antennas On The Tower (System Complete)
• First Tower Part 21 – Antennas On The Tower (Final Odds and Ends)
• Complete Presentation on Amateur Radio Station Design And Construction

– Fred, AB1OC