[WVARC] Tower move

[Joseph M. Wade]

Here is how I remember the tower move:

I had been using a really flimsy 54' crankup built by Tri-ex that had such a
small top section that the TR-44 Rotor had to be put on the mast above the
tower.  At the time I was using a 4 ele monoband 20 meter beam and on top of
that I had a Hy-Gain 10-15 meter beam that was also 4 elements.  Magnet had
put up the whole array but warned me that he didn't feel too good about it.
Sure enough the antennas were a mess after some big winds, although the
tower didn't come down.

Brian Cork, WB6YJM had a bigger 54' Tri-ex tower for sale for a pretty good
price.  I think it was about $300.  He lived in Woodland Hills and I lived
in Northridge.  Not knowing any better, I figured that we could tie the
tower to the top of my 57 Chevy and get it moved.  This was probably late
1968 and my car was 11 years old, rather slow but built like a tank.

We got the tower on top of the car and tied it down somewhat and set off for
Northridge.  In the car were myself, Tree, my cousin Bob (ex -WN6YNJ SK).  I
am not sure about the others but I think NWK was in the car.  I think HGU
followed us in his vehicle and I seem to remember another car as well.

As you mentioned, we did try to stay on side streets as much as possible but
in the end we had to go up Topanga Canyon.  I remember stopping the car many
times because the tower was sliding all over the place, from left to right
and back and sometimes over the top of the car toward the hood.  The hood
had pretty much caved in from the weight.  But who cares about a few
scratches when you have your hands on a nice tower.

It must have looked pretty strange to other cars on the street.  A white 57
chevy with a crushed in roof.  A bunch of hands sticking out the windows
trying to stabilize a steel monster that was threatening to smash anything
within 20 feet of the chevy if it came off.  I knew in 5 minutes that it was
a bad idea.

That was a pretty long ride.  Seems like it took almost an hour to cover the
distance.

But it all worked out ok.  We got the tower to my house, the roof popped
back into place and the hairy ride across the valley was soon forgotten as I
anticipated what it would be like having some stable antennas up for a
change.

I am quite certain that several of those that helped out advised me to rent
a U-haul trailer or truck.  I guess I was determined to try it my way.



-----Original Message-----
From: wvarc-admin@kkn.net [mailto:wvarc-admin@kkn.net]On Behalf Of Tree
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 12:06 PM
To: wvarc@loja.kkn.net
Subject: [WVARC] Tower move



One of the more vivid memories I have from "the early years" was helping Joe
move
a tower from Chatsworth (or perhaps northern Canoga Park) to his home in
Granada Hills.

It was something like a 54 foot crankup tower.  It was put on top of some
kind of old
beater car - and there were 4 or 5 of us with arms out of the windows
holding onto this
thing.  I remember all the fun we had going around a turn.  We went down the
side streets
as much as possible (what is that road between Roscoe and Parthenia?).

At any rate - was wondering if all of the people in that car are here?

Tree
_______________________________________________
Victory through Mug