Australian Enterprise Industrial.

Home of the "One Man Tower" 

Here it is - the long awaited "One Man Tower" MINI 10 (and the "Midi" tower)

(pictures below) 

During the past 20 odd years the "One Man Tower" has undergone constant research and development.

Why?

Simply because the tower was not just made to a price to be churned out in some mass produced way. The OMT was constantly in use by the inventor/manufacturer.

As a result anything that was not quite up to the task was reassessed and changes were incorporated to improve the design.

Feedback from the many customers around the world was also taken into account when reappraising the design.

One factor was that the towers had become extremely popular as an export item - this meant the product was a long long way from where it was manufactured - taking this into account the towers were given a 25% upgrade in strength.

Because the design is based on a "progressive strength" construction rather than the large footprint style - it meant the towers became less "One Man".

(something else had entered the equation also - I was no longer a strapping 40 year old and I was finding it hard to lift the sections around)

Plus as time had progressed my interests had shifted and I had become more obsessed with "portable operations".

I had built a "demo unit" which I am sure you have already seen pictures of - (or possibly even saw it at a hamfest) - with the demo unit I had taken a display to various hamfests and to various sites for portable operations.

My health had also been of concern over the past few years and I really found it hard to cope with the "full size" tower on the demo trailer.

The answer came when a SWL asked me to design a special small tower for him. He had no requirement for holding massive HF arrays aloft and wanted something 10m high and lighter than the heavy duty OMT.

The project became the prototype for the OMT Mini 10.

Here are some pictures of what has once again earned the title "ONE MAN TOWER"

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Engineering calculations are fantastic for this little ripper - with a working height of 10.5m to the cross tree through the elevation rotator - it is ideal for rapid set up of a portable station.

Hopefully I will be going to a portable location soon and will try to present some more interesting photos of the tower in an actual working scene.

So far I am just working a few satellites and AE on 144MHz. and 432MHz. But a more comprehensive range of antenna arrays will be developed for the new tower system when time permits. Nothing as "Herculean" as the array conceived by my mate Wayne (VK4WS) of course - but something usefull all the same hi hi.......

POSTSCRIPT> The "Mini10" while a useful little tower has proven to be a real pain in the butt to erect due to the small space available for the foot when climbing it (the tower is only 150mm square and the space available for the foot was only 90mm - way too small and the foot had to be twisted - very uncomfortable) - so in the spirit of continual research and development it has been dropped from the inventory and replaced with the "MIDI10" and the "MIDI12.5".

In addition to the "Midi10" and the "Midi12.5" I have expanded the inventory to include a "Super Midi10", a "Super Midi12.5" and a "Super Midi15".

The demand for a tower suitable for sensible HF beams and a working height of up to 15m has been very strong and the ceasation of manufacture of the original OMT disappointed many people - the addition of the three new "Super Midi" towers now cover that demand. Engineered to cope with antenna systems up to .8 sq. m and wind velocities up to 180kph.

The "Super Midi" range have a footprint of only 250mm.

Here are some pictures of the Midi tower section beside the regular heavy duty OMT section.

The "MIDI" sections are 200mm square - and the Midi12.5 is engineered to cope with antenna windload areas of up to .8sq. meters in 160kph winds.

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Also the design allows the mounting of the winch inside the tower as in the full sized OMT design (a "Midi" base section can be seen in the background with a winch fitted) - and the second pic is of a "Midi10" fully deployed at the Laidley Amateur Radio Club Field Day at Lake Dyer on the 12th July 2009. Unit shown here is a complete satellite tracking station - laptop running Orbitron and dual control for the two OzSpid rotators (el. and az.) with a Yaesu FT-847 "Earth Station" rig. All running from 12v DC battery. A perfect way to bring the outdoors into your hobby. A little treat was on display for the first time - the tower was fitted with a remote control electric motorised winch - thanks to Graeme VK4CAG for his neat little remote control unit.

It was a fantastic day mingling with my fellow - and lady - hobbyists from Laidley and districts. Many hams made the effort to travel some distance to be there and full credit to all involved.

So check back from time to time - it is ham radio after all.

 This link will take you to the page where you can see a "One Man Tower" being erected

For the Engineers report and base pad footings go to this page