Tv antenna tower hinge

Here is mine, 50 feet up and easy to work on:

The horizontal 2x4 is a handrail since my balance is poor. The other end is attached to the chimney cleaning platform.The vertical wooden mast is a 2x4 bolted to an upright landscaping post at the bottom. It's loosely pinned to the joist hangar on the fascia board, so expansion won't rip it loose.

The triangular support under the rotator rests on a door hinge. It's attached to a sled that runs on the aluminum U extrusions and is raised by the barely visible block and tackle, on the sled and under the flashing. The tapered upper wooden support disconnects with a banded shiplap joint at the lower guy line so the rotator can lower to the ground and the antenna to within reach on the roof.

The top is guyed with fishline that runs over pulleys just below the antenna and down to tieoffs at the base. They are visible as diagonal white lines under the handrail.

The three lines below the rotator are its control cable, the lightning ground wire and the rope for operating the chimney cleaning brush.

jsw

Rent a lift for one day.

There's any number of ways to do it, mine's up there about 20' which is sufficient to get all the local channels. I rigged mine up to tip completely over, also has the satellite dish attached. With everything gone to digital, you aren't going to need the giant beams of yesteryear or the heavy superstructure to support same, I've got a small flying saucer on top that's amplified. I can get by with what was a roof tripod supporting a couple of lengths of antenna mast tubing and a couple of sets of guy wires. The whole thing is very light weight and I can tip it down and set it back up by myself. Has stood up to 100 mph winds several times and a bunch of 4' deep blizzards. Has been up about 10 years. Top set of guys is about 4' from the top, second set is about in the center, all going down to three ground anchors. Have to periodically check tension on them.

If you want something more elaborate, check out what the hams do with their towers.

Stan

I've been thinking about this, too. My proposed solution works if you're not using a rotator. I'm assuming your mast is on the gable-end of your garage. Directly beneath your attachment point up on the eaves, dig a post hole for a U-shaped hinge. Can be made of two pcs. of pressure treated wood or metal. Leave space for your mast pipe plus a little clearance space. Drill two holes through your mast and the U-shaped bracket that you have set in concrete. Use through-bolts using bottom one as hinge and top one to lock it in place when upright. Screw large eye-bolt into eaves to run temporary rope through tied to your mast. Then walk up your mast while pulling on the rope. When upright tie off mast with wire or strapping and remove the rope. Then secure your guy wires which are hanging down from the top. Just an idea.

The joint between the landscape post and the 2x4 on my mast support pivots as you described. When I lowered the wooden mast the angled force pushed the joint hard against the siding of the house, so I bolted it solid and put the swing-down hinge on the rotator base instead.

jsw