Are folks using a side arm to move the FA antenna (or your own CoCo) away from the mast? Any recommendations for making a side arm from those who have done it?
In my case it’s an existing TV mast. the FA antenna would be mounted part way up, with the mast continuing on up above the antenna to other antennas at the top. The mast is grounded. Right now I’m using an old shelf bracket as a side arm for a cantenna, but the bracket isn’t particularly strong and I’m not sure it would hold the FA antenna in the wind.
I built one for my CoCo, actually integrated it into the housing I built. Housing is PVC pipe, I had a few short pieces available, so I put a tee between two of them to make the lenght I needed for the antenna. Another piece out of the side port on the tee, about a foot long. For the mast end I used a 1-1/2 x 3/4 x 1-1/2 tee, cut it in half lengthwise so it would 'sit" on the mast. Didn’t like how sloppy it fit so I heated it up and formed it to fit the mast, and threw clamps on in. Holding on really solid, a,d from what I hear the PVC will flex pretty well in the wind without breaking. Whole thing cost me under $10
best place for your FA antenna is right at the top of the main mast - if you can get there to mount it.
Otherwise anything to mount a tube at right angles to the present mas would do, Talk to the people who supply TV aerials there - I think you Canadians use different words for such thing than we do.
Please let us know how the antenna’s pickup pattern changes, and the distance of the antenna to the mast. Depending on this distance, the effect could be quite pronounced, turning a conductive mast into a reflector.
Good idea PeterHR. I checked my FA antenna to see if this would work. Unfortunately, the mounting holes are not symmetrical between vertical and horizontal positions for the U-bolts. But, it’s close. With a big enough hammer one could likely make this work!
