Height is the most valuable thing you can give an HF or VHF antenna, and the most dangerous thing you can install. Everything on this page assumes you would rather over-engineer than do it twice.
Choosing a support
- Trees and existing structures. Free, and adequate for wire antennas. Use a rope and a pulley
- Push-up and telescoping masts. Fiberglass or aluminum, 20–40 feet, guyed at one or two levels.
- Guyed lattice tower. The most height per dollar, but it needs a base and three guy anchors in
- Freestanding / self-supporting tower. No guys, much heavier steel and a much larger foundation.
- Crank-up towers. Convenient and expensive; never climb one that is not nested and never trust
- Roof and chimney mounts. Fine for a small VHF antenna, not for a beam. A chimney is a
with a counterweight so the tree can move without breaking your antenna.
The right answer for portable operating and for light VHF antennas.
concrete, and land in three directions.
Rated by wind load and antenna area — a figure to respect, not round up.
the cable alone.
structure for carrying smoke, not torque.
Permits, covenants and PRB-1
Most towers need a building permit, a wind-load calculation and sometimes a setback variance. Get the permit: an unpermitted tower becomes the neighbor's argument.
Deed restrictions are a separate matter from zoning. The FCC's limited preemption for amateur antennas (commonly called PRB-1) requires local governments to reasonably accommodate amateur communications rather than banning antennas outright; it has never applied to private covenants between a homeowner and an association. If a homeowners' association governs your lot, see HOA and stealth antennas.
Rotators and hardware
- Rate the rotator by the antenna's wind surface area and turning radius, not just its weight,
- Use a thrust bearing above the rotator so the rotator carries torque, not the load.
- Use a mast of the right material — thick-wall chromoly, not thin water pipe.
- Leave a rotator loop in the coax and control cable, secured above and below, and tape
- Every bolt gets a lock nut or lock washer. Ice, wind and thermal cycling loosen everything else.
and derate for a stack.
connectors against water.
Climbing safety
- Never climb alone, never climb without a full-body harness with two positioning lanyards, and
- Assume any wire you did not install is energized, and keep the whole assembly — including its
- Do not climb a tower carrying an antenna. Haul it up with a rope and a tag line.
- Rusted legs, cracked welds, missing guy grips and a base that has heaved are stop-work findings.
- If the job is beyond you, hire a professional tower crew or ask around your club; experienced
never trust a tower you did not inspect from the ground first.
fall path in every direction — clear of utility lines.
climbers are a common club resource, and they will bring gear you do not have.
Grounding
Bond the tower legs to ground rods at the base and bring the feedline through a single-point entry panel with surge protectors. A tower is the tallest metal object on the property, and it will be struck eventually — see grounding, bonding and lightning.