Stealthy Tilt-over Mast Hidden By Chimney
I built this stealthy tilt-over antenna to hide my VHF/UHF antennas as I almost exclusively DX MW and LW. I infrequently use these antennas - mostly for antenna experimentation on ADSB and railroad utilities. Because of the low use of these antennas and frequent other experimentation, I did not want to always have these sticking up above my roofline. The placement of the mast on the backside of my chimney screens the antenna and mast from view from both the front and back of the house when in the down position. It also allows for easy access when I want to add an antenna or maintain what is already up there.
All the mast parts obtained from my local hardware stores. The bracket is just a repurposed joist bracket for wood beam construction that I got from Home Depot for $6-7.
NOTE: An engineering update to the comments below can be seen in this engineering update video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak0Iw...
Important Note: At the end of the video when I finally demonstrate the completed mast, you may notice how high mast attachment point of the cable is on the mast and that it looks like it would hit the wire keeper I added to the pulleys when in the upright position.
Unfortunately this is in fact the case.
I originally had the cable attachment point lower on the mast so it would not interfere but I decided it took too much force to pull it up during my original testing. I got the mast to pull up more easily when the pulling force was set higher up the mast. I did not take my last minute change into consideration with regard to the pulleys.
Needs some tweaking admittedly but this is part of what this hobby is all about.
To rectify the situation I plan to remove the cable capture wire on the pulley closest to the antenna and and replace the middle roller with another pulley immediately adjacent to the antenna side pulley which hopefully will guide the cable and keep it seated as the antenna is lowered. Maybe add a guide flange to either side of the antenna-side pulley too. I will try to document this when I do it.
Once again, the engineering update can be seen here: • Stealthy Tilt-over Mast Hidden By Chimney ...
-John
