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Maco 103c Beam Antenna

Captain Kilowatt said:
If you want the beam for dx then mount it horizontal not vertical. You gain an extra 5-8 dB from wbat is called ground reflection gain. Vertical antennas do not have this. Mount the Imax above it. You can space it only a foot or less and it will see the beam as a groundplane for it
Click to expand...

Yes , that's what I meant to say, I made a mistake, horizontal.. Thanks..
 
Captain Kilowatt said:
If you want the beam for dx then mount it horizontal not vertical. You gain an extra 5-8 dB from wbat is called ground reflection gain. Vertical antennas do not have this. Mount the Imax above it. You can space it only a foot or less and it will see the beam as a groundplane for it
Click to expand...

I couldn't remember the distance that was ok between the GP and beam, but this is what I had in mind. Perfect, and it will work really well as a combo. Now he has to buy more coax. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk! ;)

73,
Brett
 
Troubleshooter said:
Yeah man.. lol
Click to expand...

Started digging the hole yesterday, we got down about 3 ft and we hit something that was metal, not sure what it was, we could not go any further.. Here is a pic :

IMG_0917.JPG

This hole is 12 inches in diameter and 3ft deep, my friend poked through the piece of metal but we could not make out what it was, and it went across the entire bottom, so my friend dug a new hole about 2 feet away from this hole. We were able to go 4ft down with no obstructions this time.. I had some pipe delivered to the house from the plumbing supply house, it was a 3" 21 foot gas pipe and a 2" gas pipe.. My friends had a hard time lifting the 21 foot pipe because it had some serious weight to it.. After they stood it up in the hole, we all agreed that the 3" 21 foot gas pipe with a ham 4 rotor attached to it would not hold up even in 4 ft of concrete.. Just not going to trust it.. So I called the supply house and they are going to pick up those other 2 pipes and are delivering 3 10 foot section of 2" galvanized pipe. After all the talk about using the maco beam , I have decided to just use a ground plane.. Tomorrow my friends are going to set the first 10 foot 2" pipe into the hole with concrete and we have to wait for it to cure.. I have to run to home depot before they get home to get a 12" 4 ft concrete sleeve to sink into this hole. Then the other 2 sections will go up along with the antenna.. So I am going to sell the maco 103c that is brand new with the upgraded 5kw gamma match rod, along with the ham 4 rotor w/control box that was just rebuilt, with the mast adapter.. I will let everyone know when I get everything set and I am finally on the air.. Thanks to all who helped and the time we spent on this thread..... Hope to be up and running by next week..
 
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Troubleshooter said:
Started digging the hole yesterday, we got down about 3 ft and we hit something that was metal, not sure what it was, we could not go any further.. Here is a pic :

View attachment 19159

This hole is 12 inches in diameter and 3ft deep, my friend poked through the piece of metal but we could not make out what it was, and it went across the entire bottom, so my friend dug a new hole about 2 feet away from this hole. We were able to go 4ft down with no obstructions this time.. I had some pipe delivered to the house from the plumbing supply house, it was a 3" 21 foot gas pipe and a 2" gas pipe.. My friends had a hard time lifting the 21 foot pipe because it had some serious weight to it.. After they stood it up in the hole, we all agreed that the 3" 21 foot gas pipe with a ham 4 rotor attached to it would not hold up even in 4 ft of concrete.. Just not going to trust it.. So I called the supply house and they are going to pick up those other 2 pipes and are delivering 3 10 foot section of 2" galvanized pipe. After all the talk about using the maco beam , I have decided to just use a ground plane.. Tomorrow my friends are going to set the first 10 foot 2" pipe into the hole with concrete and we have to wait for it to cure.. I have to run to home depot before they get home to get a 12" 4 ft concrete sleeve to sink into this hole. Then the other 2 sections will go up along with the antenna.. So I am going to sell the maco 103c that is brand new with the upgraded 5kw gamma match rod, along with the ham 4 rotor w/control box that was just rebuilt, with the mast adapter.. I will let everyone know when I get everything set and I am finally on the air.. Thanks to all who helped and the time we spent on this thread..... Hope to be up and running by next week..
Click to expand...

pole.JPG
Finally got base in the ground.. I am going to guy it also because as we were feeling the cement sleeve with concrete the sleeve pulled away from the walls about a inch or so all the way around so it moves ever so much.. There was no way to fill in behind the tube, we had no dirt and to try and put concrete around the tube was difficult.. My friend still has to tamper dirt around the pole with a heavy tamper so that should help settle the dirt around the block.. We had to let it cure first.. But if we guy it I think it will be fine.. That pipe is in 4 feet of concrete with ri barb and is 12" in diameter.. I have to give the pipe a 2nd coat and then paint half of the other 10 footer thats going to go on top of this one.. Slowly but surely it will be done.. :)
 
undertaker said:
I once had a 103 with an a99 above it. Worked like a charm!!!!
Click to expand...

I will have to see if my friend can get the anchors from work, the ones they use to guy the telephone poles, if he can maybe I will not sell the maco beam and put it up.. Have to play it out and see what happens. But it is still for sale in the meantime..
 
Troubleshooter said:
I will have to see if my friend can get the anchors from work, the ones they use to guy the telephone poles, if he can maybe I will not sell the maco beam and put it up.. Have to play it out and see what happens. But it is still for sale in the meantime..
Click to expand...

Ok, Update... After the initial base wobbled we dug down a little over 2 feet and a foot away from the initial base all the way around.. As we were digging we saw all the air pockets and empty space around the initial concrete, guess we did not tamper the ground down to good.. Anyway, all air pockets were taken care of, we then drove 6 4 foot rebarb flush up against the concrete base, poured concrete, then put down 4 2 footers of rebarb, poured more concrete then put down 4 more 2 foot rebarbs and finished it off.. Well I can tell you this, it no longer wobbles.. :) Here are some pics.. I did not take a pic before we poured our first round of concrete but you get the idea..

hole1.JPG hole2.JPG hole3.JPG hole4.JPG
 
Troubleshooter said:
Started digging the hole yesterday, we got down about 3 ft and we hit something that was metal, not sure what it was, we could not go any further.. Here is a pic :

After they stood it up in the hole, we all agreed that the 3" 21 foot gas pipe with a ham 4 rotor attached to it would not hold up even in 4 ft of concrete.. Just not going to trust it.
Click to expand...

If the top of that 3 inch pipe was bracketed to the house it would handle a lot more than what you plan to put up. I had a similar hole at the bottom of a 21 foot long 4 inch pipe that was bracketed to the eve of the house. On top of that was a 15 foot length of 2 inch pipe with a Wilson Shooting Star dual polarity beam and rotator. It survived a hilltop location with many nor'easters blowing hard and never any issue whatsoever. Unless you have an extremely strong base and vertical structure like a tower and not a pipe, you need two points of support to be safe.
 
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Captain Kilowatt said:
If the top of that 3 inch pipe was bracketed to the house it would handle a lot more than what you plan to put up. I had a similar hole at the bottom of a 21 foot long 4 inch pipe that was bracketed to the eve of the house. On top of that was a 15 foot length of 2 inch pipe with a Wilson Shooting Star dual polarity beam and rotator. It survived a hilltop location with many nor'easters blowing hard and never any issue whatsoever. Unless you have an extremely strong base and vertical structure like a tower and not a pipe, you need two points of support to be safe.
Click to expand...

I got rid of that 3" 21 foot pipe, it was just to damn heavy. I had the plumbing supply house pick that pipe up and deliver 3 10 foot sections of 2" galvanized pipe.. I sprayed the pipe with rustoleum that was close to my house color.. I might get a 18 " bracket from Dx Engineering to mount it to the side of the peak of my garage.. Pipe is 14" from the side of garage.. It's solid, not sure I need to bracket it, I am only going to fly a ground plane, but it probably would not hurt to bracket it to give it more support..
 
IMG_1065.JPG IMG_1036.JPG IMG_1061.JPG Well here she is flying.. Project finally finished.. :) I made a sleeve out of 3" pipe to slip over the 2" to 1" reducer because that was the weakest link above the bracket on the house. Welded the nuts onto the 3" sleeve , then screwed bolts in. The reducer is in the middle of the sleeve and it overlaps about a foot or so above and below the reducer. Then we screwed the bolts down onto the 1" and 2" pipe. It is solid.. We had some wind this week and the antenna did not even blink at it.. :)
 

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