Thanks guys!
Has anyone installed a 40/50 telescopic mast/tower?
Wondering what would be the easiest model to install?
Would a tower be overkill for a standard TV antenna?
Mark
I installed a 4 section telescoping mast at my previous home. ALWAYS use 4 guy wires @90 degrees instead of the 3
@120. Use heavy duty multi-strand guy wire with turnbuckles for each wire at the 4 anchor points. O used anchors designed by my dad who is a welder, they bolt into the roofing truss at the f corners of the house and loop out over the edge of the roof and come up 3-4 inches with a large steel ring (1/4" steel made into a 3" diameter ring) on the end to wire the turnbuckles to.
Do this on a day when the wind is not blowing.
The first time you erect it do it with no antennas or other equipment attached and adjust the guy wires so the mast is true vertical.
I erected the 4 section mast (about 36ft) by myself by setting up the first (largest) mast and guying it to vertical with a step ladder tied to it to hold it upright until fully guyed, used a level to balance the guy wires - get that first section absolutely vertical.
After the first section is anchored (the other 3 are inside it run the guy wires from the second section (in down position to each anchor and put them through the anchor hole leaving enough slack that the second section can be lifted easily - the second section is quite stiff and will remain upright with no guy wires. After the second is locked on top of the first, you can tighten and adjust the guy wires to make it as vertical as possible - back the second section guy wire turnbuckles off, lift it and remove the key that holds it atop section 1 and drop it down. I do all my mast lifting and lowering from a top a step ladder tied to the first mast section.
Now we guy the 3rd and 4th sections, do them in separate steps just like we did the second section, except you lift the third section with guys attached and run to the anchors out of section 2, lock it with the key or bolt, then lift section 2 and lock it and tighten its turnbuckles to vertical, then balance the 3rd section to vertical with its guy wires.
Loosen section 2 and 3's guy wires and drop them down one at a time section 2 then section 3. Now we have guyed sections 1, 2 and 3, all we need to do is repeat the procedure for section 4, it is the most flexible section but remember the other 2 sections already have guy wires on them that will help you keep everything centered as they tighten on the mast sections equally as you pull them up helping to balance the whole apparatus, this is why we do it with no antennas the first time.
After all 4 sections are up and tightly guyed, we loosen the guys on sections 2-4, bring the sections down one at a time 2, 3 and 4 and we are ready to install whatever antenna/rotator combinations you want as long as t is not too heavy for you to lift it solo.
The key to doing this alone is to guy and align one section at a time from the bottom up, as long as the center of gravity of the tower and antennas do not move too far from the center of the tower base you are OK.
After I have attached my antenna, I use plastic electrical tape to attach the coax to the mast (probably lose some signal or change the resistance by doing that) starting with the top section when I raise it out of section 3, then section 3 as it is raised out of section 2 and so forth.
It was probably pretty dumb of me to do this alone, but I did it at least 3 or 4 times, several times at my parents house before I went to college and then again at my own home - as a matter of fact the only time my mast fell was when I was at work and the roofers tried to lower it not knowing what they were doing and bent it in half at the top of the second section and destroyed my huge Radio Shack antenna (the biggest one they made in the 1980's) - well, they took $150 off their bill for that and I need to shut up and warn you not to try this yourself.
Get at least two other guys to help you 4 is best and much faster. By my self it took 3-4 hours to do this (its been at least 20 years), with a crew of 5 you can to is in probably 45 minutes to an hour.
I can't believe I lowered and raised a 4 section mast with the antenna in my avatar alone, more than once, back when I was in my early 20's, that thing was quite heavy with a rotator attached that made the weight just a little bit off center, not to mention the antenna itself was front heavy.
If you buy a mast get a heavy gauge one, shop around (if you can even find one anywhere - you may have to shop around on the web and ask questions about the thickness of the tubing and how they are connected together. The ones I have had have a U shaped notch in the bottom on both sides that drops over a key that slides through the top of the section below to lock it from turning and also have a 1/4" hole about 2-3 inches above that notch so you can put the key through at an exact spot (very hard to hit if you 're doing it solo.
A tower is not necessarily overkill, 1) if you can afford it and 2) if you need to go higher than a guyed mast is practical. Towers are more stable, especially if anchored in concrete and guyed, you can just climb them and work on things without dropping everything to the ground - but they ARE expensive.
