Taking down an antenna..........HELP

[KAAA 8324]

I have an antenna located. It is an estate deal. The lady thought it was for CB but it's a ham antenna. It's a 3 element yagi, probably 12 or 15 meter.
It has a rotator. It is mounted on a single piece of steel pipe about 20-30' up. The bottom of the pipe is in cement. The top is held by 3 guy wires. I'm trying to figure out how to get it down without the use of a bucket truck (etc). I think the antenna will stand without the guys and they are there for wind protection. It's a pretty healthy piece of pipe, may 2" or 2-1/2" diameter.

My first idea was to use an extension ladder and put a gin pole up on top, come down and drop the guy wires and lower the antenna straight down the pipe.

The second idea was to cut off the bottom of the pipe/mast and walk it sideways allowing the guys to hold it from just crashing down. Once you got it tilted over so far you could prop it up with a 2x4 with a notch in it (etc) and use a step ladder to take the antenna off.

Suggestions?

[HI-TECH]

what we did to lower a yagi, we ended up mounting a good sized pully to the house and running a long roap right @ the top of the antenna to the back bumper of a car though the pully then cut the poll and had a few friends hold guy wires and slowly back the car in reverse lowering it to a point we can unhook the antenna.

[BallWrecker]

Go borrow your buddies pick em' truck, get ya some one inch rope from Home Depot. Then cut 2 of the bottom post off level with the ground. Then climb half way up the tower, tie a real good knot and wrap it to the ball hitch of that truck. Now make sure you're in the asphalt or concrete so the truck can get a good running start... and let all hell break loose ! . lol
But seriously without seeing a pic its kinda hard to recommend how to do it. Is there any wires around to worry about ? If things went wrong what would it crash into ? Might be worth throwing a Peco guy a few bucks to help ya out .. or somebody in the area doing work with a crane or bucket truck...

[KAAA 8324]

Is there any wires around to worry about ? If things went wrong what would it crash into ? Might be worth throwing a Peco guy a few bucks to help ya out .. or somebody in the area doing work with a crane or bucket truck...

No wires but there are big fir trees all around. This thing has obviously been there for a long while and the trees have gotten much bigger than they were when it was put up. Might have to dodge some limbs on the way down. I doubt you could use the rotor now as the antenna would probably hit some limbs.

I could just as easily walk away from this, but the antenna is real interesting. It's BIG, and it looks like it has some loading coils on the end of each element a foot or two in from the ends. That makes me guess that it might be multi-band. I'm thinking if I can't use it, it would be good for barter. And then there's the rotor
I was thinking I might be able to swap it to a ham for an M104. If nothing else I might be able to just use it as material for a 11 meter yagi, but I'd hate to do that

[drdx]

This sounds like trouble. Unusable rotor, old beam with old traps, sounds like scrap city. Sometimes the best deal you can ever make is the one you walk away from. Is it really worth it? I'm sure nothing you get will cover the emergency room copay after you get hurt or hurt their property and get sued or something.

-drdx

[KAAA 8324]

This sounds like trouble. Unusable rotor, old beam with old traps, sounds like scrap city. Sometimes the best deal you can ever make is the one you walk away from. Is it really worth it? I'm sure nothing you get will cover the emergency room copay after you get hurt or hurt their property and get sued or something.

-drdx

No I didn't mean the rotor was not working, only that you could not swing the antenna in it's current location because of tree limbs

[drdx]

If it is a ham III or larger rotor, and you have the control box, and if it works (man, that's a lot of if's)it may be worth it if you need a rotor. From the sounds of it, not much else is worth much. I can just tell ya that sometimes, and I've been bitten by it, something looks like a deal but after the smoke clears, I could have just worked a little overtime that day I spent taking it down and came out way ahead.

-drdx

[721HACKSAW]

I have a 3 element Yagi style beam that I have been playing with for a few months now waiting for good weather to get it up on the tower. I have put it up and down several times while tuning it on a 20' piece of pipe on my chain link fence. The Yagi has 2 elements on one side so the weight is off center, thus the pipe wants to "roll" when attempting to raise or lower it. I use a pipe wrench and very large vise grips for leverage to keep the pipe from spinning in my hands. Above all be careful, safety is the most important.

['Doc]

Dynamite works pretty good as far as getting the thing down. Doesn't do the antenna and rotor much good though.

I'd see what a bucket truck would cost, really. It's going to take some work and imagination, and the ideas (some of them) given so far are at least reasonable. I'd be in the same boat, so can't honestly help. Good luck.
- 'Doc


(Can I have the dynamite if you don't use it?)

[Wil B Dun]

Around here you can rent a 'pull behind', trailer type bucket boom up to 55 feet. They have outriggers to level and steady them.

I use one at least once a year for antenna and/ or tree work.

Cost varies with size and location. Here, a 45' is about $140 per day. Rent it on sat, they close on sunday/ return it monday AM. 2 days for 1 day price.
Holiday weekend = 3 days for 1 day price!

In a large city(chicago?) you can just about double that price.
I've done work in there too. Now I rent here and take it along!

Pulls and handles fairly easy. I used a dodge caravan.

My quarter.

Good luck
Wil

[drdx]

wow, trailers, cranes, helicopters. Take a pic of this thing, so we can help quantify what it is worth. Sometimes it becomes a situation where you are stepping over dollars to pick up dimes. Spend a day and $100 on something that is worth $100, and you've just lost a day. It will all depend on rotor and antenna value on this one, and that setup may very well be worth it, depending on the condition of it all. While you're thinking "bargain bargain bargain" this old estate lady is thinking "I can't believe this guy is hauling off this junk for free", wait, I hope you didn't have to buy this setup. Pics please, my interest is activated. I hope I'm totally wrong and this is a $400 rotor and $200 antenna, but chances are that's not the case. Did she have any good gear in the house? Please don't tell me it was ham gear and you passed on it for $50, please please, don't tell me that.

I do love estate deals though, I once grabbed a kenwood 440 with the mic and power supply for $75, with the boxes, nice.

-drdx

[Wile E. Coyote]

Here is some thing that might help you get the antenna down if you can get this to the top of the pole. you can make this fairly cheap. But it has to go on the top of the pole holding the antenna. Rigged one of these for a friend when he put an antenna on a 50 foot pole to raise and lower his antenna. Good luck and be careful.
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[Punkin Head]

long rope and a 4x4 will get er done every time......wait that was for people we didnt like lol

[KAAA 8324]

wow, trailers, cranes, helicopters. Sometimes it becomes a situation where you are stepping over dollars to pick up dimes. Spend a day and $100 on something that is worth $100, and you've just lost a day. -drdx

No money involved, but Ya, I'm beginning to think that way too.

For $140 I can buy a brand new 4 element yagi

Or I can make an even better one for just a couple bucks more

I guess I will wait and see if there are any other goodies there but if not, maybe I will just back away

When I talked to her I started imaging some beautiful yagi on a Rohn tower with a great rotor.

Oh well