I have received approval from the XYL for expanding my antenna garden, so I’m planning the projects for the upcoming fall and spring. NJ law allows me to put up a 70 ft tall tower (excluding the antenna) without interference from the township, so I’m planning to take it all the way to that height.
The tower next to the house can be supported against the outer wall of the house, and I’m intending to place a 6-element HF beam and a a large 2m/70cm EME array on top of that tower. My limitation is a 16 ft boom so that I can keep within 15 ft of my property line. That’s certainly enough for a large, high-gain array.
The second project is to elevate the current 12 ft microwave dish to expand my horizon. This will need a very heavy-duty, self-standing tower because of the wind load presented by the dish. I need to take some measurements and see what would be the best compromise between height and achieved minimum inclination, but I feel that will fall somewhere around the 30 ft range.
I’m currently looking at the specs of ROHN towers, and would love to hear feedback from current users under similar load conditions.
PS. Finishing the power amplifiers for 1296MHz EME right now… see you soon on the Moon at 23cm!