Rich-
Thanks for your email.
The mast is 1 1/4" OD. Solid, round. Side writing on the states it is ASTM
6061-T6511 grade aluminum. It was $66. Weighs about the same as the seet
6' mast that came with the tower. I just don't like mounting a rotor right
in the open section of Rohn25g,... it's gotta be lower inside the tower.
The beam is a Mosely TA-33M Tri-bander. Longest element is 26ft---13ft each
side of boom. Boom is 14ft long.
The beam and stacked vertical 2m/440 will probably weigh under <40lbs at the
most!
73
Bruce
K4BOF
>From: "RICHARD BOYD" <ke3q@msn.com>
>To: "Bruce Ferratt" <uglyatc@msn.com>
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Aluminum mast
>Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 09:06:13 -0500
>
>Sheesh! That's quite an item you have there! You might consider the scrap
>value of aluminum and sell it to a scrap metal dealer and use the money to
>buy a steel mast. The piece of stock you have there could be worth many
>hundreds of dollars, in the value of the aluminum.
>
>Aluminum is inherently soft compared to steel. A solid aluminum mast may
>be more prone to bending than a hollow, thick wall, one. I have some thick
>wall aluminum tubing that previous hams probably acquired to use as masts,
>and they are very heavy. I plan to use them only for short (like two feet)
>splice pieces for booms for large HF monobanders. It's very expensive
>stuff, and I believe steel masts are better and stronger and more
>economical too.
>
>I buy "heavy duty fence post" steel tubing stock from Long Fence. I have
>bought a 24 foot piece of 3" steel mast for as little as $50 (they are
>often confused and don't know what to charge for it so the prices vary).
>3" is much stronger than 2" and nicer to climb if you end up climbing the
>mast above the tower, as I sometimes have to.
>
>73 - Rich, KE3Q (Bowie, Maryland)
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Bruce Ferratt<mailto:uglyatc@msn.com>
> To: towertalk@contesting.com<mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 10:56 PM
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Aluminum mast
>
>
> Hello and thanks for letting me post a question.
> How strong is a solid aluminum mast compared with a walled/hollow mast?
> I secured a solid, round 12' aluminum mast 6061-T6511 grade. What is
>the likelihood of bending when loaded with a TM-33A and VHF 2m/440 vertical
>at a rated 70mph wind load in Northern Virginia? 8ft of mast will be
>exposed above the point of the tower peak (Rohn 25G), with about 4 ft
>inside the tower to rotor plate.
> Thanks
> Bruce
> K4BOF
> _______________________________________________
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