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Reviews For: Glen Martin Towers

Category: Towers, masts, accessories, climbing & safety gear

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Review Summary For : Glen Martin Towers
Reviews: 38MSRP: 189 for 8' model
Description:
Roof Top Towers
Product is in production
More Info: http://glenmartin.com/product-category/roof-top
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00384
FROMABQ Rating: 2006-10-22
Sturdier than expected Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
It's interesting to see the wide variance in reviews here.

I purchased an 18' roof tower that is mounted on my patio roof and supports a 3 element SteppIR beam. Overall, I'm very happy with the final result.

The tower arrives in an amazingly small box, about 2 inches by 8 inches by 8 feet. The box contains LOTS of parts. You have to bolt the whole thing together. This took 3 or 4 hours of work but, actually, it was kind of fun.

When the tower first arrived there were some problems with missing and misdrilled parts but the Glen Martin folks were very responsive in getting the correct parts out to me and fixing the problems.

Before I got it put up I was concerned about overall strength and the effect it would have on my roof. I put it up with blocking and with no guying as described in the instructions and the result was very sturdy -- much sturdier than I thought it would be.

We get very strong winds here and the first time we had a good blow (40 to 50 mph winds) I climbed up on the roof to see how it was holding up. The SteppIR was flapping around quite a bit but the combined roof/tower structure hardly seemed to notice. No sign of flex or strain at all and no creaking in the roof.

It's been up for about 6 months now with no problems despite some pretty hefty storms this summer.

All in all I'm very happy with the result.
W0LC Rating: 2006-05-01
Wouldn't buy one again Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased an M1350 direct from GM not long ago. Here are some of my experiences with this company.

1. Tower was left at the shippers dock and I had to rent a truck to go get it. Another fee that I was reimbursed. GM wouldn't stand behind thier shipping even though I paid for it up front.

2. Tower assembly wasn't too bad, although the base plate holes weren't properly drilled or lined up based upon the blue prints.

3. Guying at the top presents a problem if you plan on installing anything other then an HF or 6 meter beam. The guy attachments preclude one from raising a VHF beam without them interfering with the antenna's elements as you crank up the hazer.

4. Tower flexes a bit and twists in the wind. Something I am not comfortable with. I think the sections could be more rigid and sturdy.

5. Walking it up, it definitely bends like a noodle and you can really see it. Makes me wonder about durability and strength.

6. Customer service. I called with some questions and got a sales girl. GIve up on talking to anyone that knows anything. Lousy customer service.

7. Instructions could be better written. They ought to contact an amateur and have them walk through the instructions and make improvements.


VE2CU Rating: 2005-06-13
Very sturdy indeed Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I totally agree with K6SDW. Mine is the RT-832 8' version and it's been up for the past 5 years. It supports a G-800DXA rotor and a MP-33-N (fairly small footprint) on a 14' pole. We've had some VERY strong winds lately and I went up to check everything. This tower has'nt moved one bit (well anchored though). Still looks & performs as good as new. Better yet, my neighbors tell me it looks nice to the eye, which made me happy. A wonderful product that I would highly recommend.

73's, Michel VE2CU

K6SDW Rating: 2005-06-13
7 years later....excellent!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have no financial interest here.....a divorce is forcing me to move and sell all. Well, I just took down my "antenna farm" including the Glen Martin RT936 roof-mounted tower and I'll be damn the tower is in as good a shape as when I took it out of the shipping boxes 7 years ago!! Not a speck of rust or corrasion and as solid as the day I put it together and bolted it to the roof!!

Just wanted to update my original review = the Glenn Martin RT936 is an excellent product for what it does!

Cheers all....

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by K6SDW on 2000-02-10

Not having the money or space (actually, the XYL gave me grief about a "real" tower) I decided to buy the Glen Martin model RT936, 4-legged roof-mounted tower. At 9ft and able to take 18sq ft of load, this is a serious, well-engineered tower for the roof your your house that easily handles a lot of antenna load! You will be quite impressed with it's design and quality of materials. It went together in an afternoon, another half day to do some shoring up beneath the roof to handle the weight and stresses of tower and antennas. It's designed to take a typical rotor mounted inside the tower. Must buy accessory is the thrust bearing which mounts at the top of the tower. You can see my installation at http://www.k6sdw.org . That's a Force 12 C3 and Cushcraft 5-element beams. So, if a ground-mounted tower is out, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Glen Martin roof tower again! 73...
AI4BJ Rating: 2004-03-09
I'm satisfied Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered a 4.5 foot roof tower from Glen Martin last week and it arrived in a couple of days, well packed. After putting it together it seems very solid and looks like it should last for many years. There were two minor issues:
1) Two lengths of 1/4" bolts were supplied, but this was not reflected in the parts list. I had to figure out for myself that the shorter bolts were to be used on the upper mounting plate.
2) The instruction manual recommends securing the tower directly to the roof rafters if possible, but the hole-to-hole spacing of the mounting brackets is 25" instead of 24".
NE4CW Rating: 2003-07-26
M1350 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this tower (M1350)new from Glen Martin in 1999. Due to a move I sold the tower ( should have kept it )after about a year of use. I wanted to add this review due to some of the bad reviews I have read here. The tower arrived in perfect condition on a skid and partially covered with wooden slats. I dug a 3.5 foot by 3 foot hole and set the concrete base section in and filled with concrete. After letting the concrete cure for a month I was ready to assemble the tower. Assembly of the tower was easy and only took a couple hours. I never had to call Glen Martin for assistance due to the great instruction book / spec sheet. Raising the tower was easy! Me and three buddies wlaked it right up ( two wallking it up and two pulling on the guy wires). The three earth ancors were the toughest part of the job. Depending on the soil in your area it takes some work to get those things into the ground, but nothing a steel bar for leverage can't do. The Hazor tram system is awsome and worked flawlessly for the time I owned it. Setting atop the tower was a huge 4 element 20 meter beam. During large wind stroms the tower would flex some but it is designed to do that. Taking the tower down was as easy as putting it up. All in all, I give Glen Martin an A+ and will be buying another tower from them within 6 months (the M1850).
JT1FCR Rating: 2003-04-23
Poor packaging and Bills of materials Time Owned: more than 12 months.
2 experiences both painful - Incorrect materials and or missing parts - packing inadequate. ordering on the phone should be double checked. QC/QC poor - no complete bills of materials therefore you cant check to see what to see you should have got. Phone Phone Email Email
KW4CQ Rating: 2003-04-17
My M1350 experience. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered the M1350 (50 foot) tower package from Glen Martin for use with my new Sommer XP70 7 element 5 band log periodic antenna and Yaesu 2800DXA rotator. The tower was delivered by truck freight in a 4x5x10 foot long crate in good condition. The freight cost came to over $415.00 from GM's plant in Boonville, MO to me here in the Washington, DC area. Fortunately the delivery truck had a powered tail gate which allowed the crate to be lowered down to my driveway for unpacking and handling later.

So far, so good. And now for the grief part:

Tower Guying: I purchased this tower because it was and still is being advertised in GM literature and in QST adds (see p.128 May 2003 as a recent example) as a tower that "Eliminates Tower Climbing". Well, that's true only if you install one set of guy wires and guy brackets at the very top of the tower. The 60 and 70 foot models of this tower require a second set of guys. As an added precaution I ordered a second set of guys and grackets for my M1350. Installing a second set of guys down 10 feet lower on any of these towers requires you to climb the tower and install (or uninstall) the guy brackets in order to get the Hazer platform to slide up and down the tower past the second set of guys. It is also interesting to note on the first page of the Instruction Manual that comes this tower that GM warns you to "Never Climb the Tower"! To which I would add, besides falling off you will most likely bend the thin aluminum tubing tower braces.

Recommendations on Tower Assembly and Raising: (1) The five 10 foot sections were fitted together as instructed but quite a number (over 15 or so) of the bolt holes did not provide adequate clearance to insert the bolts and these had to be drilled out with a quarter inch drill bit. (2) My tower came with the precise number of stainless bolts and lock nuts needed to assemble the tower. Drop and loose one in the process and you are SOL! There are no spares provided so I suggest you order some extra ones from GM just in case. (3) The poor quality of the Made in China turnbuckles provided by GM really turned me off and I would recommend you shop around at your local electrical supply stores for some made in the USA. (4) If you order GM's ML-1800 Messenger Line Kit be sure you order some extra Kevlar cable as they don't supply any with the kit. (5) I recommend you replace the fishing string they supply for the Hazer safety latch release arm with a length of 3/16 inch dacron rope or similar. If GM's string ever breaks at the top of the tower you are in for climbing. (6) Depending on your local soil conditions and the amount of rocks in the soil you may find it easier if you drive the screw anchors for the guy wires into the ground straight down rather than at an angle. I dug down twelve inches into the soil with a post hole digger to get them started and then used a four foot long piece of plummer's pipe to screw the anchors into the soil. I had to make several attempts at this in slightly different locations after hitting large stones on the way down. Occasional retensioning of the guys will make up for any loosening that may take place over time. (7) The tower was walked up on its hinged base by myself with the help of two other "good men", to use GM's phrase. DON'T even attempt it with any fewer than three. Four is better. (8) If you are considering ordering GM's M13 Torque Arm kit please realize that this boat anchor will add an additional 50 lbs. on top of your tower making walking up the tower on its base a very challanging proposition. I decided not to use the one I ordered from GM as it would require my adding two sets of guys for each of the three torque arms to achieve adequate anti-torsional dampening and twisting. The GM drawings for this kit shows only on set of guys being used. (9) The Kevlar guy lines provided by GM, although very strong, can be easily cut with a pen knife by vandals so I installed tweny or so feet of 3/16 inch EHS steel cable at the end of each guy wire. I also added a safety loop of EHS cable through the eye of the screw earth anchors and secured the ends with cable clips to the steel guy cable. This provides an additional meaure of safety to the turnbuckles and further discourages vandalism.

Although as of this writing the beam has not been assembled and raised on the tower I am not comfortable at all in having selected the 13 inch tower. It appears rather spindly and quite frankly I will not risk my life or limb by climbing this flag pole, particularly with 110 lbs of beam and rotator at the top in order to connect a second set of safety guy wires and clamps. Perhaps the 18 inch M18 models would have been a better choice in my case.

In my various phone calls to GM requesting to talk with a tower design engineer about guying and related safety issues I have never been successful getting past the sales people who are only too ready to give you the wrong technical information or advice regarding this product. I have never experienced this type of poor customer service with my Rohn or U.S. Towers projects in the past. I think you know what my next tower purchase will be.

This tower cost me over $2,400 delivered plus another $145 plus postage for the M13 Torque Kit which I can't use (they want a 20% restocking fee!). This tower is simply not worth the price.

I give Glen Martin a score of 1.

Caveat emptor fellow hams!
K0JJM Rating: 2003-01-29
Mixed Bag Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My opinion is reflected in both materials and service. I placed my order and received it (main piece was a 17' roof top tower) within two weeks. The tower itself was complete, went together well, and seems very sturdy. Mounting on the roof went OK. However, I had ordered some extras - lightning rod kit and side arm kit. The lightning rod kit was complete but had the wrong attachment bracket (even though I ordered the mast through them as well). The side arm did not have any mounting brackets sent with it. It took three different phone calls (and about three weeks) to finally get the right parts. The new lightning rod attachment had to be bent out to fit on the mast and the side arm attachment requires 4 holes to be drilled into the tower. I decided to use an alternate method of attaching it since I didn't feel like drilling 4 holes in any part of the tower near the top. I also had to enlarge one of the mounting holes for the rotor, but consider that to be minor.
I also feel that the advertising is mis-leading. I have told them this. It states that there is a "ladder side" to the tower. This implies that one can use the "ladder" to climb the tower. Isn't that what one does on a ladder, climb? But then in two different places in the assembly instruction they specifically warn against climbing the tower. Why imply that one can climb the tower and then tell you that you shouldn't? It would have been much easier to mount my two antennas ( a KMA Log Periodic and a FluidMotion 3 3 element beam) if I could have asked someone to climb the tower. We had to install them by tilting the tower. Fairly easy with one antenna but tough with two.
In conclusion the tower itself seems very well made. But having the needed parts show up at different times (up to a month after the original order) just made things harder than they needed to be.
K8DXX Rating: 2002-12-26
Very Good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have two Glen Martin roof top towers in use on the second story of our house.

The first, now in service for 7 years, is the model 424 4.5 foot version. It started out by supporting a HyGain TH3 MK4 tribander and a small 2 meter beam about 6 feet above it. I simply lag bolted it into the rafters and have had no problems. In May, 2001 I replaced the above antennas with a Cushcraft 5 element 6 meter beam and a Cushcraft 20 element (10X10) beam for 2. The only other change made has been the addition of the Glen Martin thrust bearing (insurance for the rotor). My '424' came with a crude thrust bearing (an aluminum plate with a hole for the mast, ringed in brass). It was part of a HyGain roof top antenna package. I am not sure whether current 424 towers come with that item.

Also in May, 2001, I installed a Glen Martin 936, 9 foot roof tower to support a Force 12 C4EXL (10 elements on a 30 foot boom) antenna. In this case, I reinforced the roof and installed the GM thrust bearing. Off the side of the 936, I installed a GM extension arm supporting two phased 2 meter loops with a 6 meter loop in the middle. This installation is just beginning its second winter. So far, no problems whatsoever.

I can find nothing negative to say about Glen Martin. Everything was shipped properly. All parts were present. Phone support before and after the sale was fine. Best of all, the finish/color of the 7 year old tower is virtually identical to that on the newer unit. They don't discolor or leave a rust trail on the shingles.

NOW... I would strongly prefer a standard ground mounted tower (or towers) if the city would permit. However, if your city or budget will not permit a ground mounted support, Glen Martin roof towers appear to be a worthy alternative.