Author Topic: Bracket for antenna support on roof apex  (Read 11168 times)

Offline raynerd

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Bracket for antenna support on roof apex
« on: June 05, 2010, 08:20:33 PM »
Hi Guys

I`m in need of some advice and ideas. I have a kitchen extension on the back of the house, it is about 4m long, perhaps a little longer. Bog standard roof, titles with ridging tiles right up on the apex ... sure you don`t need the picture, but this sort of idea



I want to put up one of these:



It is an antenna rotator and would normally be hooked up like this:



As you can see, it mounts on a standard antenna pole which would normally be strapped to the chimney or bolted to the gable end wall or facia boards just like a TV antenna.

So here is the dilema - I already have a couple of antennas up for various bands and this will be a third. They are all quite discreet as much for my own sake as my neighbours as I don`t want to make my house look OTT with radio equipment. Likewise with this antenna, I want it to stand out as little as possible and therefore if I mounted a pole on the front facia of the house, because the antenna is 3m boom, it will overhang the end wall by over a meter since the mast is central to the antenna. I would therefore like to some how mount the antenna, pole or rotator directly to the middle of the apex of the roof. The idea of a rotator is that you can point the antenna in which direction you like and therefore when not in use, I`ll swing it around in line with the apex of the roof and it will hopefully look less obtrusive. My question is, from the centre of a roof, i.e ridging tiles and roofing tiles, how could I fix the rotator! There seems nothing to grip onto. Could I make some sort of bracket? I`m going to re-point my ridging tiles this month so could I some how fix something into the mortar - a pole directly, or some form of pins, threaded rod to hold on a bracket?

Any ideas welcome...I know it is a tricky one ...... maybe not even possible

Chris

Offline HS93

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Re: Bracket for antenna support on roof apex
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2010, 08:46:34 PM »
I did something simmilar, I live in a bungalow and did not want the dish at hand hight, so when I was having the roof re tiled i got them to fit a through roof gasket for a waste pipe, BUT this was only two feet up from the gutters so the tube came out in the overhang, but there is no reason why you could not fit one just below the ridge they do all sizes andas long as it is a rigid mount below you will not have any problems ill try and get a picture tommorow for you, mine has been up for over 10 years no leak problems.


peter
I am usless at metalwork, Oh and cannot spell either . failure

Offline raynerd

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Re: Bracket for antenna support on roof apex
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2010, 06:23:58 AM »
Hi, thanks for the reply, if you could take a pic or two that would be great as I'm not 100% clear on the arrangement you are mentioning. Cheers
chris

Offline DMIOM

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Re: Bracket for antenna support on roof apex
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2010, 06:43:54 AM »
.....as I'm not 100% clear on the arrangement you are mentioning. Cheers
chris

Hi Chris,

I think I have also seen what Peter was describing.  

On modern houses, you sometimes see the vent stack for the soil pipe from the WC coming out through the slates/tiles part way up a roof slope - e.g. something like this from Marley and seen in cross-section in item 1380 here

I've seen someone use one of those but instead of taking a vent pipe up through, they arranged for the hole to be adjacent to a roof timber and (with suitable sealing) ran a mast up through the seal/gasket and had the lower portions well anchored to the roof timbers inside. To minimise sealing problems, the cable was run up inside the mast and then well sealed with self-amalgamating tape where it exitted the mast at the top (also rigged with a drip-loop).

and if you want to go really OTT - you could always build a mock chimney and hide your rotator in the chimney !  :proj:

Dave
« Last Edit: June 06, 2010, 06:49:48 AM by DMIOM »

Offline andyf

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Re: Bracket for antenna support on roof apex
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2010, 07:26:59 AM »
If you try to fasten something that big to the ridge tiles and slates, Chris, you would end up with a hole in the roof after a few strong gusts of wind, so I'm sure Dave and Peter's suggestions are the way to go about it.

If the shack is to be in the kitchen, it's a shame you didn't ask before you bought the rotator. The mast could have been extended down through the ceiling and rotated by hand. Indeed, you could have reduced the antenna's visual impact when not in use with an "Up periscope!" arrangement. Mind you, the visual impact in the kitchen could lead to trouble  :) .

Should anyone near Manchester be in need of a rotator, I've got one, along with a 2m long Yagi, which I'd be willing to let go for a small consideration. They haven't been used for 20 years.

Andy
Sale, Cheshire
I've cut the end off it twice, but it's still too short

Offline raynerd

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Re: Bracket for antenna support on roof apex
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2010, 11:07:50 AM »
Andy, pm to you...

Offline Jere

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Re: Bracket for antenna support on roof apex
« Reply #6 on: June 06, 2010, 02:02:04 PM »
There are some commercially made tripod-type mounts, which house the rotor within the base, and I think could straddle the roof peak.
An example:  http://www.glenmartin.com/industrial/pg17.htm

73
Jere, AA3SR

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