I once put up a couple of 50' TV push up masts (actual height 45'), with two
additional sections of 10' TV mast on top of that. They made very nice 65'
masts for a 160m inverted L, one for the vertical part of the antenna, and the
other to hold up the far end. The mistake I made was using "TV antenna" guy
wire. The stuff was 6 strands of galvanised steel, about 20 gauge. It seemed
strong enough, but it took it only about a year to completely turn to rust. I
think they made the stuff specifically to sell TV antennas. That antenna
lasted less than 2 years.
If I had it to do over again, I would have used single strand #8 or #10
galvanised steel fence wire, available at most agricultural supply outlets.
It's pretty cheap, and would have lasted for years. I broke the guys with
small ceramic "egg" insulators. It was easy to install them with the stranded
wire, but would not have been impossible with the solid wire, with the proper
tools.
But after that antenna failed, I replaced it with a quarter wave vertical using
127' of Rohn 25, with all the proper hardware. That one has been up for over
25 years now, and although it is becoming a little rusty, it is still holding
up well. I may have to re-guy it in a few more years, but when I do, I'll use
Big Grips instead of half a dozen clamps at every insulator. I aimed for rf
transparency up to 7 mHz and broke up the guys every 18', so I have over 100
insulators in the guy wires of that tower.
Don k4kyv
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