The testing completed- Mosley TA-33 vs Homebrew Hex Beam. Both antennas work great with low SWR and great performance. I’ve decided to mouth the Mosley on a telephone pole in my back yard. I’ve had great signal reports with both, some saying the Hex was louder. The comparison is a bit flawed, the Mosley was pointed through the hex beam when working Europe. And while I was able to measure 4 or 5 watts when metering the hex into a dummy load I also wonder what it was doing to the Mosley’s pattern.
To mount the Mosley on my utility pole I welded some large angle iron to make 9′ and then welded on custom brackets. This to hold a 20′ length of 2″ galvanized water pipe. This is schedule 40 and not designed for structural use, schedule 80 would be preferred. The Mosley has a wind load of about 5 square feet, the Ham IV rotor perhaps another square foot. The pipe it’s self perhaps another square foot. There is about 9 feet of unsupported mast with the rotor and antenna on top. Will it survive the Nor Easters and other New England weather events? I hope so… In my mind I imagine a 7 square foot sign on 9 feet of 2″ pipe. I think of a 2′ x 3.5 foot road sign being held instead of the antenna. That’s not all that big of a sign and the 2″ steel pipe is pretty strong stuff. I can only hope- I don’t want to guy it.
I used six 2 1/4″ muffler clamps to attach the pipe to the angle iron. There are four space tie points where this attaches to the pole. The entire rig is heavy- I’m having a local tree guy hoist it for me. The final height will be about 30′. Not all that high but it’s tested good at 30.
