Posted: 5/10/2015 2:32:49 PM EDT
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A continuation of this thread: https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_22/674829_Shack_Build.html
I've had the parts I've need to keep building my shack for almost a year. But other obligations, weather, and having some help have kept me from continuing the build. Yesterday I was able to continue with my build. The antenna mount has been on my roof since the other post. The next step was to add cabling... 2" wide, 0.032" thick copper strap from GA Copper Times Microwave LMR-600-DB - I picked up 250ft of this from Dayton last year for a song 2 runs of Cat5e Ubiquiti Tough Cable Carrier Other parts include... Stainless steel hangers for the coax (WS-CLH12) Times Microwave Clamp N connectors for LMR-600 (EZ-600-NMC-2-D) - Excellent connectors Miscellaneous Stainless wood bolts and washers for mounting the coax hangers Coax prep and termination tools Diamond X700HNA antenna (to be put up later) Rohn saw horse antenna mount We didn't take a ton of pictures of the actual work because we were concentrating on work more than anything. Due to the way arfcom has changed the way image embedding works my pictures may no longer show up if you are viewing this thread using HTTPS. Goatboy's solution... Don't use HTTPS.... In any case the pictures from my shack build continuation can be found here: http://nullbits.foxxz.net/shackbuild?page=3 From the concrete pad to the top roofline it is approximately 28ft. While I can easily get on the roof working along the edge on the steep roof angle, and along the sides of the house is dangerous, problematic, and difficult. 
To that end I rented a JLG T350 towable boom lift. It has a 35ft reach and is self leveling. It is electric and very smooth. 
I had 3 people show up to help, my younger brother and his two friends. My brother is physically disabled, his one friend is a bit on the large side, and the other guy was a former roofer. With this in mind we formed a crew. The roofer helped me on the roof and with installing the cable. The larger guy acted as our errand boy and safety guy on the ground - making sure we weren't pushing the lift beyond its limits or running the boom into the house or anything else. My brother acted as the safety backup when the other guy was running errands. Heres a picture of my brother in the lift... 
We got started around 8am. First job was to install a bathroom vent on the second story. That was done in under and hour. Then we got started on the cable install. We started by running the flat copper strapping. We mounted the stainless hangers on top of the strap to hold it down. This required the roofer and myself in the lift (we were well under the lift weight capacity). I fastened the strap and hangers to the roof and the other guy helped wrestle the heavy spool of copper strapping and hand me tools and parts. Proper roofing sealant was used under the strapping and under and around the bolts to ensure no leaks. Next the network cabling was run. We put two runs to to the roof. While I have no immediate plans to locate any network equipment up there I'm working on something that may require it in the future. So best to do it now. Instead of doing one run of cable at a time I measured off a copious amount of cable onto an empty spool and brought the small spool and original source spool with me. I ran both network drops at the same time channeling the cables inside the coax hangers. There was enough room to fit them under the coax. Should I need to add more there is room above the coax in the hanger as well. Things were going faster than I expected. We were putting down the coax in no time. Special care was required as to not bend the LMR-600 past is max bend radius. The coax is stiff but still flexible enough to be worked work. 
Heres a shot of a hanger with the strapping, network, and coax cables all clipped in 
Cables running down the roof 
Transitioning from the roof down the side of the house 
Running under my porch to the grounding box where lightning arrestors will be installed 
Other thoughts... We started at 8am and were cleaned up and heading to lunch by 3pm. The lift was WORTH RENTING. In the end it made the job easier, faster, and safer. I wore SPF60 sun block, a long sleeve shirt, a wide brimmed hat, and a towel under that and around my neck and shoulders. I was the only one that didn't get sunburn. I had work gloves and wore them off and on. They make working with nuts and tools difficult. I managed to get cut by the copper strapping when not wearing them. |
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Link because of the ghey
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_22/680978_Shack_Build_Pt2.html Looks good fox. |
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Quoted:
Is there a specific reason you decided to go with a rooftop setup instead of putting in a tower? Looks like you probably have the room for one. It keeps his VHF/UHF cable runs short. He is using LMR600 for everything and that gets expensive running it for very long. |
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Quoted:
Is there a specific reason you decided to go with a rooftop setup instead of putting in a tower? Looks like you probably have the room for one. I didn't see the need. The mount on top of the house will get me 35ft off the ground. The area has hills/mountains that can be tough to get over anyway. Aside from the VHF/UHF antenna I will use the mount to hang one end of an HF dipole. |
I wouldn't rent a lift like that..... I would go get mine out of the barn. Biljax 3242 42 working height. 32 side reach. Set up next to our 100 ft tower at the club station for VHF contest.   right now it is set up next to my house with the OCF dipole hanging from it. Making some tower changes. All kidding aside they are worth a lot. Make the job a lot safer. At National Weather Service for skywarn appreciation day.  Every ham should have one of them in his barn. |
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Continuing my shack build (slowly) I finally got the antenna itself up during the holiday weekend.
Diamond X700HNA, which is over 24ft long, on top of the house 
Rohn Sawhorse mount 
In this pic you can see the grounding strap attached to the mast, a few extra turns of LMR-600, and a bundled pair of the Cat-5e cable for future expansion 
This is the bonding of the copper ground strap to the aluminum mast. I used Penetrox P8A between the conductors after a through wire brushing. I used 4 stainless hose clamps and a few coatings of liquid electrical tape to help keep moisture out. 
Antenna mounting to the mast. The antenna had an N connector on it and I doubly sealed it with silicone sealing tape. 
Cables run down the house into my grounding box. 
I had problems getting ground rods deep into the ground even with a large hammer drill. On average I could only get about 4ft down before hitting shale. 
First morgan lightning arrestor in the box. I plan to add a coax relay and some other arrestors later on when I run additional lines. I even have several ethernet protectors as well. Box has two 2 inch ground straps coming out of it. Aluminmum and copper anti-corrosion compound used where appropriate. 
I'm slowly building so more to come. Or tell me you don't care and I'll stop 
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Looks good! Shack builds are great for ideas. I have one coming up this summer, we just put in an offer on a house and it actually has a room I can dedicate to the ham station. And all this stuff I have been packing around in boxes for a decade and a half will finally have some use (measuring backyard for loop).
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Quoted:
You know, you could install another roof bracket on the other side of the roof and mount a Hexbeam with a small rotator. You'll be surprised how well it works. P.S. I did not know you wore a skirt.  Last picture. LOL. Just kidding.You know, I did consider a second mount on the other end of the roof. However a few things changed my mind. I don't really have an attic. I have a finished attic, if you want to call it that - which has a flat ceiling. To get to the rafters I would have to cut the ceiling open. And for the current mount I did that. But I had to remodel that area of the house (a bathroom a pipe burst in) anyway so it wasn't a big deal to make a mess of it. I reinforced the roof and added lumber for the mount to lug into. Trying to lug a 1/2 inch wood bolt squarely into a 1.5 inch wide roof joist just wasn't going to happen. My shack is on that side of the house. So it just made sense. More grounding, more cabling... Etc. And the reflection does kinda make my shorts look like a skirt 
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