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Maco 103c Beam Antenna

Troubleshooter

Troubleshooter

Active Member
Jun 13, 2016
195
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Northeast
Hey guys,

As in my previous posts I have been out of the hobby for 20+ years and used to run an Antron 99 with ground plane on my chimney back in the day.. Anyway, I first purchased a Imax 2000 with ground plane kit a few weeks ago but changed my mind and went with a maco 103c beam.. Now I have 2 antennas.. LOL... I need some advice on how to get the maco 40 feet into the air, obviously this is not going to go on my chimney like the antron was 20+ years ago.. Do I need to look into a Rohn or american made tower? They are quite pricey and so is the shipping so not sure if there is any other way?? Any help would be appreciated.. Like I had said before, great group of guys/gals here on the forums, glad I signed up... :) Thanks
 

BBB said:
Look on Craigs List in your area for a used tower or sections of the same maker and size. Heck you might even find one with an old Ham 4 rotator. Ask for the control box if they still have it.

As an example, here's a 50 footer for $300 in a random market:

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/ele/5713261240.html

or the whole shebang for $2K:

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/ele/5676864539.html
Click to expand...
Thank you... That's what my friend suggested also who lives in Indiana but I doubt anyone would have one around here where I live, but I guess it does not hurt to check..
 
Mr. TS, without some prior experience installing and using a beam, tower, and rotor...I would shy-away from the beam idea and stick with a vertical mono-pole mounted on a simple support using appropriate guy lines...for sure in areas with possible heavy, wind, snow, and ice.

IMO, beams can be troublesome and $$$expensive$$$ to install and maintain.
 
Marconi said:
Mr. TS, without some prior experience installing and using a beam, tower, and rotor...I would shy-away from the beam idea and stick with a vertical mono-pole mounted on a simple support using appropriate guy lines...for sure in areas with possible heavy, wind, snow, and ice.

IMO, beams can be troublesome and $$$expensive$$$ to install and maintain.
Click to expand...

If you put them up properly they will be maintenance free for many years. I have had tribanders up for 10+ years and never had to do a thing and trust me, we get snow, ice and high winds. My forty+ year old tribander (third owner) did eventually succumb to the weather however (SEVERE ice and high winds broke the elements) but in that time it proved itself over and over again.A lot of guys lost all sorts of antennas in that storm including smaller antennas on less than proper masts. Anyone that has run verticals and then yagis will never go back to a vertical again unless there are other reasons that dictate the use of beams not possible. IMHO a decent multiband vertical is every much as troublesome or more-so than a beam by the time you run a decent radial field which every one of them SHOULD have despite some of them claiming they do not require one. SWR is not the only parameter by which antennas are measured. I installed my first beam (Wilson Shooting Star) when I was barely 16 years old. Even by then I had learned enough to know what had to be done and what was adequate versus simply throwing it up in the air on a pole. They are not hard to erect if you pay attention to good info and use some common sense like not installing it on a 15 foot piece of unguyed 1 1/4 inch emt for a mast.
 
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Getting into a beam antenna is going to be more costly than the beam itself. A push-up pole is cheaper than a tower. It can be braced with your house and then guyed for stability. A rotor is going to be the next item that will cost a bit of money; but do not scrimp there, as it will need to be able to deal with wind force.

30-35 ft up is enough and not to be mounted near power lines should it fall.

Have run a 4 element beam for half a dozen years with great success, and did it as described above.

You will be best served by getting an antenna switch so that you can switch between the horizontal beam and the vertical Imax. Again, I did the very same thing, the results have been both a lot of fun and very effective.
 
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OK got this thread mixed up with another one somewhere and just realized we are talking about a CB antenna here and not an amateur antenna however my feelings are still the same. YES it will cost more however as Robb said above a push-up pole is fine for a small three element 11m antenna. Tghe gain is nice but the F/B rejection is really nice to have.
 
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TS -
Where in Indiana do you live?? I lived in Sheridan about 25 miles North of Indianapolis for many years. I ran an Astroplane vertical and a Hy-Gain 3 element beam. Central Indiana is all flatlands, and I could talk to stations in Indy, Kokomo, Muncie, Anderson, etc. at night running 5 watts on the vertical . If conditions were tougher, the beam did the job. Glad to see someone getting back into radio. Have fun. 73s.

- 399
 
unit_399 said:
TS -
Where in Indiana do you live?? I lived in Sheridan about 25 miles North of Indianapolis for many years. I ran an Astroplane vertical and a Hy-Gain 3 element beam. Central Indiana is all flatlands, and I could talk to stations in Indy, Kokomo, Muncie, Anderson, etc. at night running 5 watts on the vertical . If conditions were tougher, the beam did the job. Glad to see someone getting back into radio. Have fun. 73s.

- 399
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Do not know how I missed this post.. I do not live in Indiana I am from New York.. Will be nice when I finally get up and running. Probably not going to do the beam as I do not want to put a tower up in my yard.. The Maco 104c is still sitting in the box, as well as my IMAX 2000.. I have decided to put up the IMAX 2000 with the ground plane kit, just have to make my own 40 foot mast.. It's still a work in progress, but hopefully I will be back on the air soon.. :)
 
I spoke to my friend the other day and he said that he would give me a hand getting the IMAX up when he finishes up a big job he is working on for work. Here is my plan to getting the antenna 40ft up there.. Going to start off with a 3 1/2 " pipe into the ground with concrete, then when that dries I will get a 3" pipe to put into that, use 2 bolts in cross section to secure them, then take a 2 1/2" pipe into that, repeat, 2" pipe, etc. 4 10 foot sections.. Then run a ground rod 10 feet into the ground.. I have 96 feet of rg213 coax that I will be using. I really wanted to use the beam, but like others have said, it's a little tough to setup, tune, etc, then I would also need a rotor, cost is not the problem though.. In order to do it the right way the beam need to be put on a tower. If I were to do a tower, it would really stick out on my property. I do have plenty of space but it would look ridiculous. So that's my plan, hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks I hope to have it up.
 
40' of pipe in the air sounds like disaster,, even if you guy wire it,, search the area for towers with old beat up tv antennas on them that probly are not being used any more and you can probly find a couple for free if you take them down
 
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camaro1 said:
40' of pipe in the air sounds like disaster,, even if you guy wire it,, search the area for towers with old beat up tv antennas on them that probly are not being used any more and you can probly find a couple for free if you take them down
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Tower is not a option, it would look ridiculous on my property.. My property is not to small but I do not have 100 acres or live in a remote area.. How does 40 feet of pipe sound like a disaster? I do not even have to guy wire it, especially with a solid base.. It would definetly be stronger then a Rohn telescoping push up pole.. I have a friend who runs the same setup and he has had it setup for many many years, and with no guy wire.. He uses a Maco V 5/8 on his...
 
Troubleshooter said:
Tower is not a option, it would look ridiculous on my property.. My property is not to small but I do not have 100 acres or live in a remote area.. How does 40 feet of pipe sound like a disaster? I do not even have to guy wire it, especially with a solid base.. It would definetly be stronger then a Rohn telescoping push up pole.. I have a friend who runs the same setup and he has had it setup for many many years, and with no guy wire.. He uses a Maco V 5/8 on his...
Click to expand...

You must live in a very low wind area and have no ice to worry about. A Maco 103 on a 40 foot pipe mast is something I would NEVER do. IMHO that would look far more ridiculous than a nice freestanding tower of 40 feet. The tower would be far stronger as well. Why would you think you need 100 acres for a tower to look appropriate? I have 1.2 acres and have a 64 foot freestanding tower on my property. I do live in a rural area but it is far from remote. I have neighbors and town is a mile away.
 

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