[MLB-WIRELESS] Building my mast.

[Nick Sibbing]

Phil
have you looked at buying a Hills mast? I looked at custom building a 
mast and in the end the Hills Telomast was so much cheaper I dropped the 
custom idea.

I had the services of a neighbour who is a steel fabricator and he was 
going to do the job for nix and get me steel at cost but the Hills 
option was still a fraction of the cost.

There was a chance recently on this list of a bulk buy but sadly that 
seems to have faded. But to get an idea of the cost check out Rob 
Clarke's site he also has instructions. Freenet has the whole kit for a 
9 meter mast for approx $320 plus freight.
http://www.freenet-antennas.com/~freenet-/oscommerce-2.2ms2/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=41&products_id=117

 I think there are local melb options that might be cheaper again eg 
Radio parts if you know someone who has a trade account or Alvin 
Electronics who seem to be mainly aimed at trade customers
http://www.alvin.com.au

Installing one of these is not trivial and you want to get it right as 
there have been a few collapsed masts recorded on this list but as the 
mast starts from the top of the roof this would probably already be 
higher than the one you are designing and a 9 m mast is  lot easier and 
safer than a 12 or 15 m

Hope this helps your research

Regards
Nick Sibbing


Phil NodeHPL wrote:

> Hi all,
>  
> I'm in the process of gathering the components for a new mast.
>  
> My design is interesting, but arent they all. First I will be building 
> a telescopic mast where the mast is in lengths, which could then 
> retract into each other, 4 lengths in total, 3 as the mast - 1 short 
> one and the top which would rotate. Two sets of guy wires will be 
> attached to the mast, 1 set just below the antenna's at the top, the 
> other at the joint between the 2 long upper poles.
>  
> The thoery is that I would be able to drop the antenna down (much like 
> say a car radio antenna) such that the top section where the antenna's 
> would be mounted, would be at a workable height at the top of my roof.
>  
> From this I will need 3 long lengths of differing sized poles, so they 
> fit into each other, of about 6-7 meters each and a shorter rotating 
> length for the top, say about 1.5 meters in length. The bottom piece 
> would go from the ground upto just above the peak of my roof, the 
> second with a 1 meter over lap would go from the roof up, then the 
> final third piece once again with a 1 meter over lap would go from 
> there upto the rotator.
>  
> These will be guy wired, so I need to attach those guy wires to the 
> mast and to the house.
>  
> What I need are suggestions for materials for the poles, guy wires, 
> and all the relavent means to attach them. I'm looking for somewhere 
> to buy an antenna rotator and anything else anyone can think of which 
> I might need.
>  
> Certainly links to websites is great but business names and address's 
> etc would be ok as well.
>  
> What I'm interested in, after reading about GMR's mast breaking, is 
> what type of materials work best and have appropiate strength etc...
>  
> I have not put up a mast before which required anything more than 
> bolting it to the side of the house, so the more information the better.
>  
> Phil, NodeHPL.
>  
>  



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