versatower

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In oktober 2022 I had a crash of my top mounted antenna, the wind was not even that strong
the rotor attachment loosened and the antenna system fell down hanging on the cables


I had been working before on an mast extension to use a support bearing but never expected that my rotor would break
in just handling a 12 elements 144 mhz beam and a dipole for HF bands
I needed to speed up my work on the mast extension and to repair the damage to the antenna and rotor

After getting all down I found damage to the 144 MHz antenna and to the rotor.
It took me almost a month to get the mast extension ready and to repair the antenna and rotor.

With the new setup using the support bearing I have much more lenght above the support so being able to put in more antenna's
Now working on my 10 GHz tropo system and a 70 elements 23 cm yagi to put in the mast.


 

In 2019 I bought myself a Versatower.
This mast was mounted on a concrete Stelcon plate and for the time being I placed it in my garden in front of my house.

It was heavy enough for mounting a 144 MHz yagi
I wanted to move the Versatower to the garden behind my house and use the Stelcon plate for the EME antenna.
In 2020 I started digging a hole in my backyard, dimensions 2x2 mtr and 1 mtr deep.
In spring of 2021 I continued work on this and by end of april 2021 it was ready to pour in the concrete.  


For the mounting of the tower I planned use of the M24 1 meter long threaded ends
I mounted these as exact as I could manage onto a wooden construction.
Later I found that using these would leave me only a few millimeter for error to fit on the Versatower mount


I found a company prepared to drive with a full cargo load of concrete over the meadow direct next to my garden.

 


During the pouring of the concrete we noticed that the threaded ends bended by the force of pouring the concrete
During the process of pouring, we several times readjusted the threaded ends to vertical using a long wooden stick

In total 4,2 cubic meters of concrete was used for filling up the hole

After removing the wooden construction I noticed that one of the threaded ends was a bit crooked
This worried me as it could be a problem to mount the versatower mount over these threaded ends
I tried to force the M24 threaded end back to to correct position but it seemed unsuccessful

The threaded end on the front right is a bit crooked.


A neighbour helped with the transport from my Versatower to my backyard

When the mount arrived at the concrete we adjusted it over the threaded ends
and with a strong mechanical arm I adjusted the position to fit over the threaded ends,
It fitted quite easily and by adding the bolts it was simple to adjust the
Versatower mount into it's wanted and final position

My neighbour then helped me with the tower transport which was easily mounted on top of the mount.