Self Supporting Lattice Tower 96' for about $2000

[wispy]

Does anyone have experience with these self-supporting lattice antenna towers from Champion Radio in the U.S. and made by Trylon in Canada. Seems that most of their market is for amateur radio operators, but should be no reason that they would not be an economical answer for Wireless AP antennas if one can llive with a maximum of 96 feet and a little more than $2000.

http://www.trylon.com/lightdutytowers/titanselfsupporttowers.asp

And, photos of a 72 foot installation by a ham operator in his back yard.

http://www.qth.com/ka9fox/tower/index.shtml

Pricing info from the manufacturer in Canadian $ is at:

http://www.trylon.com/lightdutytowers/selfsupporttwrs_pricing.asp

And, pricing in U. S. $ is at the U. S. distributor Champion Radio (link does not always come up) at:

http://www.championradio.com/towers.html located in Woodinville, WA

This is a much better buy than a flagpole from U.S.Flag --- Aluminum 50' 8" .188" 127 mph 10x15 3 $1993.75 at:

http://www.usflag.com/poles/aluminum_commercial.html

Would like to talk to anyone with experience with this product, or if anyone has a better suggestion/idea.

wispy

[rbolduc]

Hello There, I just installed a Thomas-Shelby (Rohn) BX56 Self supporting tower the whole thing shipped w/concrete stubs was under $1000.00 they have up to 72' if I can remember right and it comes with 8' mast for a total of 78'. the killer is the cement I needed a 5x5x4 block that cost $350.00 I will post picts in a few days.

Thanks
Reed

[dkii]

You've got my attention, I just dropped about $1000 putting up a 70 foot guyed rohn 25. I woulda gladly paid $350 more for a self supporter, and probably woulda been easier to build. Where did you buy it from and what size was the tower you installed?

[wispy]

Appears that the Rohn BX series of self supporting towers (no guy wires) has been discontinued by Rohn and is now provided by Thomas Shelby & Comany. Why did Rohn discontinue? I do not know, but probably in favor of professionally installed PCS, cell and other large towers without the liability of having do-it-yourselfer installations such as amateur/ham operators. Looks to me that low wind resistance installations such as a wireless omni or wireless sectors with a top mounted AP would work on this type tower. My nearest supplier of a line of self supporting towers is Texas Towers in Plano, TX (near Dallas), but they no longer list the BX series in their Rohn listings.

Critical Towers in East Hampstead, New Hampshire is one of the distributors for the Thomas Shelby & Comany BX series (with prices) at:
http://www.criticaltowers.com/BX%20Series%20Towers/Web%20Pages/BX%20Series%20Tower%20Page.htm
Good price for this (BX64 64' plus 8' mast for $708.37) in Kansas City, KS at: http://www.wavehunter.com/rohn.htm
Also, a 20 page Rohn BX Self Supporting Lattice Tower catalog as .pdf file is available at:
http://www.criticaltowers.com/ROHN%20Industries/Media/pdfs/BX%20Towers/BX%20Catalog.PDF

Other self supporting towers are:

-Trylon "Titan" at: http://www.texastowers.com/trylon.htm
-Universal Aluminum Towers at: http://www.texastowers.com/universa.htm

An item of interest to me is not only "self supporting" but is also a crank-up installation (using a cable winch) that may be the answer to "NOT climbing 50 to 100 feet into the air" is the U.S.Tower MA series (max lowered height of 23'6' on an 80'tower) of crank-up monopole antenna or, alternatively, the TMM, TX (max lowerd height of 21'6" on a 72' tower) or HDX series of crank-up lattice towers also at U.S.Tower. See these at
http://www.ustower.com/selfsupport.html Or,
http://www.texastowers.com/ustower.htm

See photos of beginning a crank-up tower installation at:
http://www.texastowers.com/crankup.htm

That should get one started in self-supporting antenna towers if they are interested.

wispy

[butchkemper]

Here a 56 foot self-supporting Trylon tower that is now operational. This picture was taken after the YDI-EX1 was installed but before the Trango APs were installed.

http://www.tstar.net/~kemper/towers/whitehills/

The costs for the tower are $1,000 for the tower including shipping from Hutton in Dallas; $1,600 for the concrete base- this location is 20 miles from town and up a steep/rocky road; $150 for the crane, $300 for the building; and $675 to the electric coop for service installation.

Butch

[georgew]

The BX towers are a fairly thin stamped sheet-metal tower. They won't last as long as a hot-dip type tower, but they seem to last long enough.

They are light-duty, but fine for wifi use. The rungs are too thin to use for climbing, so you will need a bucket lift to get to the top.

The heavy duty versions look really good for shorter towers, but you have to use special brackets to attach anything to the tower.

[Bossman]

We have around 10 of the trylon T-200's up. Never a problem yet. You have to be careful with leg clamps high up as the legs get thin, but they have served us well.

[msilkjr]

hey all check these guys out www.alumatower.com they do up to a 100 ft tower and crank up. they specialize it portable units, vehicle mounted towers, trailer mounted towers,and many more types they are out of florida and make there towers.