Antenna installation

 

At the start, the amount of antennas allowed when I was living at my parental home was put on a wire-attached pole and directly put on the flat roof, as can be seen in the picture at the left.

 

So, one of the first things at the new QTH was the erection of a tower nearby the house. To ensure security my father welded a support made of central heating tubes. The knowledge and experience of my father in the metal business was always a big help to me! This construction was placed in a pit nearby the garage in order to keep the length of the coax cables as short as possible. A grounding wire was attached to the metal and in the center a plastic drain-tube was added. The purpose of this tube is to maintain the ability to remove the concrete if necessary in the future. Since this can only be achieved by an explosion, a hole going to the bottom of the concrete is needed. The pit was then filled with about 2.5 square meter of concrete. Three weeks later the nicely repainted second-hand tower was mounted on the rods coming out of the concrete. As it is often with an antenna installation for amateurradio, in the beginning there were only the two beams (2 m and 70 cm) on the tower, but soon followed by lots and lots of other antennas.

Photographs and descriptions of the subsequent phases can be viewed by clicking at the corresponding tower picture here below. 

 

 

phase 1
phase 2
phase 3
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3

 

Phase 1 : Erection of a tower with a height of 24 meter and mounting of the VHF and UHF beams and omnidirectional antennas.

Phase 2 : Removal of the upper part of the tower and mounting of a 3 element HF beam for 10, 15 and 20 meter.

Phase 3 : Replacing the 3 element beam by a 7 element Cushcraft beam for 10, 15 and 20 meter.

 

The resulting antenna configuration with individual indication is shown in the picture below. Besides this, several dipoles were attached to the tower and at the back of the house, 2 dishes were mounted for Meteosat and TV broadcast reception.

 

 

 

Phase 1 : Erection of a tower with a height of 24 meter and mounting of the VHF and UHF beams and omnidirectional antennas

 

Phase 2 : Removal of the upper part of the tower and mounting of a 3 element HF beam for 10, 15 and 20 meter

 

Phase 3 : Replacing the 3 element beam by a 7 element Cushcraft beam for 10, 15 and 20 meter