Thom,
I would think that a piece of 1026 alloy (2in OD, 1.5in ID) should be
adequate for your loads, less expensive, and off-the-shelf. You may still
have a little trouble finding a 24 foot piece as most everyone will be
dealing with random lengths but you may get lucky right off the bat. They
will at least be able to tell you what they have available because it should
not be special order.
Then get some good rustproofing paint such as POR ( http://www.por15.com )
or Zero-Rust ( http://www.zerorust.com ) and paint it up. I used POR and the
mast got a little nicked up as I pulled it up thru the tower but not nearly
as badly as the previous mast that I used spray-on galvanizing on. If I was
doing it again I would probably give Zero-Rust a try, mainly because it
looks to be about half the cost.
Good luck and 73 de
Mike / W8DN
----- Original Message -----
From: "wi8w" <rtty@comcast.net>
To: <Towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 7:49 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] mast recommendation
> Living in Grand Rapids, MI with a population of somewhere near 1 million
> people you would think that finding a length of pipe for a mast would be a
> easy task...not so.
>
> I have spent the last week calling every steel dealer both in new and used
> steel for a chunk of 2 inch OD 1/4 inch wall 4130 pipe about 24 feet long.
> Did I find anyone who could supply it?...nope. All said it was special
> order and they could not guarantee 24 feet. best they could do is
something
> random betweek 17 and 24 feet Special order meant that not only did I
have
> to pay for the pipe (around $16 a foot) but I would have to pay the
shipping
> (about $300 for a 24 foot length). They all said that I could buy two
> pieces (and pay the shipping) and weld them together to make the 24 feet.
I
> am not a big fan of nor do I know how to weld anything short of a resistor
> to a circuit board.
>
> Anyone have any suggestions for a substitute at about a 24 foot length? I
am
> stacking the following:
>
> 2M/440 vertical
> 19 element 440 beam
> 20 element 2 meter twist antenna (10 vertical and 10 horizontal)
> 5 elements on 6 meters
> A4S tribander
>
> in that order top to bottom. Yep it is going to be tight and the first 10
> feet of the mast will be inside the tower
>
> 2 inch OD seems to be the biggest I can go given the size of the thrust
> bearing (TB-3) on the tower.
>
> thanks
>
> 73
>
> Thom WI8W
>
>
>
>
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>
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