omni-directional and directional on the same tower

[trx680]

I currently have my 5/8 Maco mounted to my chimney. Plan is to place a short tower behind the house and mount it on the tower. But I'd like to have a directional antenna as well.
Is it possible to have both mounted on top of the same tower? Where the motorized directional wont interfere with the 5/8?
And would I have separate coax for each antenna coming in to the radio, and switch back and forth as needed? Or can I tie both antennas together to one coax to the radio?

thanks guys!!

[jessejamesdallas]

Yes, you can have your ground plane antenna on the same mast as the beam...and as for as coax go's, you will need two runs of coax...one for the beam and one for the ground plane...Then run them to a antenna switch so you can switch between the two antennas without having to unhook the coax from the radio each time...

Now...You need to check and see what the max wind load is for your tower...all towers are not created equal! Too much weight at the top, could make for a very bad day....Take into consideration "the two antenna's, rotor, mast, and coax"...The antenna's should have a wind load rating and so does the towers

A MaCo 3 element beam has a surface area/wind load rating of 3.99 square ft. The MaCo V58 ground plane has a surface area/ wind load rating of 2.56 sq.ft.

So just the two antennas is going to have at least 6.55 sq.ft. of wind load, then figure a HyGain rotor would probably be about the same (if not more) and the coax and mast...

To support two antennas your going to need a pretty hefty mast to handle the winds too...

It can be done...just not going to be cheap!

[trx680]

I was looking at the ROHN self supporting towers (no guy wires). Maybe a 25G. A 30 ft tall tower is $500.
I have a local retailer so I can pick it up rather than ship it.

Hinged tower base for $320. That way I can lower it in the event of forecasted crazy winds.

Might get a hurricane through here in Va once every five years. That would be my biggest concern.
So probably $1000 from top to bottom.
Here are some pics of the specs
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[jessejamesdallas]

I have a 40' aluminum self supporting tower from Universal Towers with the tilt base...However, even tho it's "self supporting" after talking with some of the guys around here who have had towers up for decades, I decided to go ahead and add guy wires anyway...Glad I did to, because I'm pretty sure i'm little over/or right at/ what the tower was rated for with my antenna set-up, by the time you add in the rotor and all the coax and heavy mast and all...

Mines been up since 2013 and been through some serious storms, and never moved...

The tilt base plates are nice for when you have to bring things down for repairs, or swapping out the coax. I have a hand winch I use to crank mine down and up, like what you would find on a boat trailer.

[MDYoungblood]

I was looking at the ROHN self supporting towers (no guy wires). Maybe a 25G. A 30 ft tall tower is $500.
I have a local retailer so I can pick it up rather than ship it.

Hinged tower base for $320. That way I can lower it in the event of forecasted crazy winds.

Might get a hurricane through here in Va once every five years. That would be my biggest concern.
So probably $1000 from top to bottom.
Here are some pics of the specs
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You needed to add a rotor plate in with the price quote. Being fold-over will be nice making it so you don’t have to climb to make adjustments. The Rohn g-25 will handle a 3 or 4 element beam, like JJD, I’d guy it.

3’s

Greg

[trx680]

so if I bumped it up to a 45G....of course it costs more, but I can still get the hinged base.
Anyone here use the 45G?