Yes, in the fading light of day, there it is in all its glory–an antenna mast. Some progress has finally been achieved. 🙂
Actually, I have been gratefully busy with paying work, so most things other than the necessities have taken a back seat to that the past 2-3 weeks. This also explains the quiet around here. When you’re doing the consulting thing, people expect to see results rather more quickly than they do from employees. It’s why we can charge the ridiculous per hour rates we charge.
The mast has actually worked out well. The coupling wound up about 4 feet down from the support at the peak of the roof. I’m debating if I need to add a wall bracket at that point to give it some extra strength, but I’m leaning toward “No” on that.
I wound up with almost exactly 6 feet of mast above the peak of the roof, which was my goal. That will allow the rotor and the 2m/6m beam and the omni-directional TV antenna. After those go up, I’m going to see if there is some way to add a discone for scanner use, but I think that may be pushing my luck. I have two other roof peaks where I can mount something on a bracket similar to this if I decide I really want that antenna up.
The next big step is to develop the routing for the antenna cables. I’ve vacillated over this for weeks. The ground height on this end of the house means that the penetration would be at or below ground level, which is not something I would like. Routing it around the back means lengthening the runs, increasing loss and having all that exposed ugly, which Mrs. Freeholder looks askance at. I could take it in through that vent you see and route a conduit down through a closet, but that just strikes me as asking for trouble at some unforeseeable future time–probably about the time something figures out how to get into the attic. It’s a pity that my “wireless” as it’s known in the former Great Britain couldn’t be, well, wireless.
That, however, is the subject for another day. At the moment, I’m just happy to have gotten this far.
