My permanent VHF/UHF antenna is finally up.
Antenna is a Diamond X200A mounted on a 10-foot mast. As you can see in the adjacent photo, I have a 2-inch steel pip that is four feet long, with 2 feet of it set in concrete.
Attached to that is a Hy-Gain ATB-75 Universal tilt-over. The 10-foot mast is attached to the ATB-75.
One difficulty of note: The ATB-75 instruction say that you can use “tube bases or mast pipes up to 2 ¼” OD”. They neglect to provide a minimum diameter. So I promptly bought a steel pipe 1.25 OD and set it in concrete, only to discover that the U-bolts on the ATB-75 would not accommodate a pipe that small.
AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGG! Yes, I know, I should have done a trial assembly before pouring the concrete.
I dug the pipe and it’s concrete out of the ground, Bought a 2-inch pipe and some more concrete, and after much cussing I was ready to continue.
From that point on the project went smoothly. The mast is also secured to the eaves of the house using a Rohn WM6S Wall Mount
I live in a small rural community in Arizona called Spring Valley, nestled in the foothills of the Bradshaw mountains. I keep the Wildflower Mountain repeater (145.350) on in the shack all the time and thanks to the broad coverage of it, I’ve made friends all over the state.
When I was a young and very broke ham, I lusted for the Drake C twins. One of my Elmers owned a set and I probably got drool all over my shirt every time I was in his shack.