Sun Valley Machined
Raise and lower your antenna alone, in minutes.
The Tilt-Up Base is the hinge your Greyline has been waiting for: walk the antenna down for a whip swap, a season check, or a storm night — and walk it back up — one operator, no ladder, no helper, no lift truck.
Watch It Work · 14 Seconds
That is the entire job, start to finish. Tom, N3EQF, raises his DXF-24 alone. No narration, no music, no edit — one person, one bolt. Shorter than reading this page.
One Note On The Video
This clip shows an earlier version of the base, which let you take out either of the top two bolts. The current version tilts on the top bolt only: loosen the top bolt and remove the SECOND bolt down. Pull the wrong one and it simply will not go over. A new video is on the list. Thanks to Bart, N1BRL, for catching the difference before anyone else had to.
Field Report — The Operator In The Video
"Living in Florida, prepping for high winds and hurricanes isn't uncommon. Now that I have the tilt-up base installed for my DXF-24 flagpole, that preparation just got so much easier. Remove one bolt, loosen the other, and the antenna comes down easily and goes back up just as easy. It's now a one person job. Besides storm prep, it makes any preventative maintenance less of a chore. Like the Greyline antenna hardware, the tilt-up base is beautiful. Added bonus; the flagpole just got a little taller!"
— Thomas, N3EQF · Florida · 24 ft DX Flagpole · Verified Owner
Why a tilt base? A 24-foot antenna weighs under 30 pounds, but physics does not care — it is the fulcrum, not the weight. Standing one up by hand is a two-person job at best and an awkward one at worst. This is the mechanism that removes the problem, engineered in our Idaho shop specifically for the Greyline base tube.
The Design
- Two precision sleeves interface with the standard Greyline 2" OD base tube — the tube itself stabilizes the pivot plates
- Heavy-wall sleeves, thick side plates, and Grade 8 pivot hardware — the engineering math only calls for Grade 5, and our shop builds it with Grade 8 anyway
- All-bolted assembly — no welds, fully serviceable with basic tools
- Adds better than a foot of height to your installation — a small aperture bonus, on the house
- Cut, drilled, tapped, and turned in our Sun Valley, Idaho shop
One direction only. It cannot go over center.
The pivot is mitered so the antenna swings down one way and stops dead in the upright position. It cannot tilt past vertical and fall the other way on you. Simple, mechanical, foolproof — and the reason you pick your lay-down lane before you pour.
Where It Goes — Ground Upward
The simplest way to think about it: the tilt mount inserts between your ground sleeve kit and your lower insulator. Nothing else about your installation changes.
1. PVC ground sleeve. Set in the ground, the same sleeve your antenna uses today. If a Greyline is already standing in your yard, this step is done.
2. Aluminum base section. The 3-foot aluminum tube from your ground sleeve kit slips down into the PVC sleeve, with a length of it standing above grade. There is no separate tube to buy and none is missing from your box.
3. Tilt base. Separate the joint between that aluminum tube and the lower slotted fiberglass, and the tilt base goes in between. Its lower end is a splice that slips down INTO the aluminum tube — it does not go over the outside of it. It only fits one way round, so you cannot install it upside down.
4. Lower insulator and the antenna. Everything that normally sits on your ground sleeve kit now sits on the tilt base instead, starting with the lower insulator.
Ground sleeve at grade, tilt mount above it. If you are ever unsure which end is which, the drawing settles it.
This Product Is Still Being Built
Everything on this page has been shaped by operators. The bolt note above the video exists because a customer read three of our documents and noticed they disagreed with each other. This assembly drawing exists because two more people got stuck on the same step in the same week, and our engineer drew it that afternoon. The maintenance advice further down came from a 77-year-old in a windy county who mentioned it in passing.
We build these by hand, in small batches, through this season. That is slower than the alternative and it is deliberate: a good field report can change the next run rather than waiting years for a redesign. If something on your install does not match what you read here, tell us. That is not a complaint. That is how the next one gets better, and you will find your callsign on the page when it does.
Lowering It, Every Time After
Loosen the top bolt. Remove the SECOND bolt down. The bottom two may want loosening as well. Then walk it over — hand over hand, facing the pole, letting the geometry carry the weight rather than your back. Raising is the same motion in reverse.
The top bolt is the fulcrum and it stays in. If the pole will not go over, you have almost certainly taken out the top one instead of the second.
One person, start to finish. That is the whole design, and the video above is an operator doing exactly that with nobody else in the yard. Bring a second pair of hands if you like the company — plenty of operators do — but the job does not require them, and nobody is climbing anything either way.
Field Report — Seventy-Seven Years Old
"I purchased the tilt-up base to make it easier to maintain the flagpole. I am 77 years old and I have no trouble raising and lowering the antenna by myself. While I had the flagpole down I put lock washers and thread locker on all of the screws. We have enough wind here that over time some of the screws would loosen."
— Denney, W7MNE · DXF-24 with the 9 ft whip · Verified Owner
Denney is describing the real return on this base. Wind works fasteners loose over seasons — thousands of small vibration cycles, the same as any bolted structure outdoors. The operator with a ladder finds loose hardware when something fails. The operator with a tilt base walks the pole down on a calm afternoon, works at chest height, adds lock washers and thread locker, and walks it back up. That is the difference between maintenance and repair. Read Denney's full story →
Same Hole. Same Sleeve. No New Digging.
Already have a Greyline standing? The Tilt-Up Base seats in the same ground sleeve your antenna is in today — it fits the standard Greyline Ground Sleeve Kit. The hole you dug once is the only hole you will ever need. No second hole, no new concrete.
Installing New? Two Decisions Before The Concrete Cures
If your antenna is still in the box, you are in the best possible position: set the ground sleeve once, per the standard assembly documents, and the tilt base drops straight into it. Nothing about your ground work changes. Two things are worth deciding before the concrete sets, because they are easy now and awkward later.
1. Pick your lay-down direction. The base tilts one way only. Look at where the antenna will lie flat when it comes down — clear of the house, the fence, the driveway, the neighbor's hedge — and orient the base that way when you set it. An operator who skips this step finds out on the first storm night.
2. Account for the extra height. The base lifts the whole antenna, so plan your flag clearance, fence line, or eave gap with that in mind. It is free aperture, and it is easier to plan for than to discover.
Every Greyline Ever Built Can Take One
We designed it that way on purpose. This base fits the standard 2" OD tube used across the current 12 to 28 ft line and every Skyline.
Own one of the original 28-footers? Those used a 2.25" pole, and we build a matching base in that size in small batches. Call 435-200-4902 or email us to get on the current run. Nobody gets left out.
Not just for storms. The same base that lowers an antenna ahead of weather is what lets you service a feedpoint, add the 9 ft DX Whip, or check a connector on an ordinary Saturday. Operators who own a tilt base tend to end up with more aperture too, for exactly that reason: the easiest time to add height is when the pole is already horizontal. Want the whole feed side explained end to end? Your RF System, End To End →
Built in-house in small batches, in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Questions on your install, or unsure which size fits your pole? Call 435-200-4902 with your model and year — an operator answers, and we will tell you in thirty seconds.
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