The final stages of assembling the tower.

At the corner of the shack where it never rains is a disconnect for the rotor. You can see the 9 oin connector which has now been replaced with a HD Cinch Jones 8 pin connector.

At the bottom of the tower is breakout box with a glass cover. Inside is a heavy aluminum box which holds 4 relays and 5 gas discharge units. There are 4 different color LEDs to indicate which antenna(S) are active. To the left is the terminal block with the 8 rotor wires and 8 MOVs attached, The block was modified so that the wires to the rotor must pass thru fuses to the rotor connection where the MOVs are attached. There are LEDs to indicate power to the Brake, CCW power and CW power.

There is a 1/8th " gap from the ground rods to the tower. It is not grounded until lightening strikes. The gas discharge tubes have a connection to the ground rods through 2 ga steel wire.

The 2 ground rods are connected each thru 2 double 0 cables to a circle of 2-0 wire. There are 3 6 ft ground rods and 3 10 ft ground rods spaced around the circle.

At this point I only have the Yagi and a 135 ft OCF connected to the remote antenna swich.

You can also see the 3000 lb remote controlled winch which I can operate from my chair in the shack.

The control wire for the antenna switch and the rotor are in a 1 1/2" PVC underground and the single coax (LMR-600) to the shack is in a similar PVC pipe. Coax and cables are protected physically by Split Loom Tubing.

Next Page