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Mount Beacon Amateur radio Club Coax and Antenna Project Currently the club has seven (7) antennas on the tower. Two (2) antennas still need to be removed from our last project from 2015 One of the antennas will be replaced which the club already owns. Each of the five (5) remaining antennas will need new 7/8” Coax This will require all the old Coax to be removed. The current Coax was installed in the summer 1993 and is now over twenty seven (27) years old. The current Coax is mounted in a non-standard configuration that makes it impossible to repair or replace just a single length of Coax. All of our Coax is bundled together approximately every eight (8) to ten (10) feet along the inside of the tower leg closest to our shack. Standard practice is to attach coax individually to a coax support bracket every three(3) feet. For a 280 foot tower would be ninety four (94) connection points for each of the five (5) coax runs. All of our antennas are at the top of the tower two hundred and eighty feet (280’) and five (5) lengths of coax at two hundred and eighty (280’) feet long would require a minimum of fourteen hundred (1400) feet of new coax. This does not account for any bends or specific antenna placement which requires a bit more coax per antenna. I estimate we need about three hundred and twenty (320) feet of coax for each of the five (5) lengths of coax bringing the coax estimate to sixteen hundred (1600) feet. The current coax attachment system has several deficiencies and is falling apart in several places and likely some of the attachment points can be reused, but not many. This is a large round member adapter with a standoff adapter holding a hand made standoff bracket wrapped with the coax bundle. Photo attached. I’ve priced several items and my list is not complete and it is already more expensive than the first vendor pricing for parts. List attached. I’m attaching the photos that I sent to each vendor to price this project to give each member a better understanding of this project. This project is labor intensive and from the bottom of the mountain it is a thirty (30) minute drive to get to the top of the mountain. The climber(s) have a thirty (30) to forty (40) minute climb to get to the top of the tower. The site owner requires any tower crew to be trained in and practice fall arrest and must have a tower rescue climber on site at all times while climbers are on the tower. The site owner approves all climbing and ground crews.
