Show us your E's and Tropo setup

[vk1da]

Rob

For the top bearing you could use a steel bracket of suitable size to get the required offset. The bracket could contain a standard thrust bearing sold by the usual dealers that sell rotators.

Re the rotator itself one of mine has an inverted L shaped bracket bolted to the lower side. In my portable setup the bottom edge of that bracket simply sits on the ground. The weight of the mast, 3 beams and cables is sufficient to keep it there. It would no doubt be much different with a hf beam creating a larger turning moment but a few 3m long VHF beams don't create much moment even in the stiff breezes on mountain tops I operate from in VHF events. Anyway try it of you can. Good luck.


Andrew Davis VK1DA & VK2UH
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[VK3MEG]

my basic set up for 2m fm only atm and I have a 13 element yagi for 70 as well ( not back up yet)


yagi2m by meggalathegreat, on Flickr

[VK3BQ]

Who needs horizontal.

This diamond tri band vertical and 20 meters of rg9913 got me a 4th in the home station VHF/UHF only in the 2012 spring field day (as vk3nd) i was 8th in that segment when you include the microwavers,, (and it does lean about 10 degrees as seen in the photo!! thanks to the coax and no guy wires.)

Worked into far north QLD last year on 144mhz on this crooked vertical when the band opened one afternoon. About 2000km worked 4-5 stations from brisbane to beyond charters towers ) and can work vk5 and vk7 when the band is open / troppo (it's the far end doing all the work) i have a decent view with no real obstructions for ~300 degrees (tassie and sa), with only the north east blocked, but this is metro melbourne at ~115m above sea level in a small suburban block. (no yagis YET YET)

[vk1da]

Rob, I found this photo of my 8 el 2m yagi. This was used to work ZL2OK on 2m SSB (Es) early in 2011, numerous SSB, CW and JT65 contacts into the Melbourne, Geelong and other parts of vk3 (about 500km) on tropo and also worked Kevin VK4UH on FSK441 (closer to 1000km) - using IC910H. This exact mast is normally used on field days in the same configuration. Hope this inspires you to get that horizontal into the air again.

[VK2GOM]

A nice setup Andrew. My main problem is I can't guy anything. a) Yard not wide enough to allow guys to run such that they would be effective, and b) can't drill/fasten anything to anchor guys to the house.

I will keep my eyes open for another rotator though

73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH