At 10:07 AM 05/31/10, you wrote: >well, i tried to search, but.. alas, sorting thru 1400+ posts just >isn't going to work. > >i need actual use facts on high altitude (>11k feet), severe duty >antenna selection... i've always been a stationmaster (fiberglass) >antenna guy - and never had a problem... but...i've never put an >antenna up at this height. > >i am going to need something good for 150+ MPH winds, ICE, etc. > >Open to ideas.
One word: Scala. They are in Medford, Oregon. Phone 541-779-6500 Email is communications at kathrein dot com Kathrein-Werke KG of Germany bought them but everyone I know of still calls them Scala. The Cal Tech Seismo Lab has a bunch of radio linked seismographs and one is on Mt Whitney at 14,500 feet. Another is on Mount San Antonio (also known as Mt Baldy) at over 10,000 feet. Those plus a lot more seismographs at lower altitudes all use Scala beams. Now those are beams but I've seen Scala Omni antennas as well. They are TOUGH. In short, Scala make antennas that survive, but they are not cheap. <http://www.kathrein-scala.com/> main web site <http://www.kathrein-scala.com/vhf-high.htm> VHF High Band <http://www.kathrein-scala.com/uhf-mobile.htm> UHF Despite the words "uhf mobile" they make UHF station antennas as well. I'd get their catalog, as well as the ones from Sinclair and Telewave and maybe even Bogner. Just be sitting down when you get to pricing out your new toy. Years ago a friend could not afford the Scala he wanted, so he took lots of photos of one that was already in place at a different site. Those photos were blown up to 8x10s (I had access to an enlarger and a darkroom then) and he took them over to his brother-in-law the welder. A couple of weeks later he had a homebrew copy of a Scala VHF Omni with a reflector (think 8 foot tall corner reflector) A trip to the galvanizers and then to the mountaintop resulted in a very LOUD system.... Mike WA6ILQ
