[TenTec] Need for some advice

[Thomas Smith]

I KNOW this may not be T/T related, but given the background of you
folks in this area and your expertise in the hobby (as well as your
overall gentlemanly way of handling ANY question), well...

I am about to erect a very handy fold over tower (folds at 28 feet up;
overall length is 45 feet) right next to my house. Obviously, I will
need some mast pipe to put the beam - a Mosely TA 33 with the HUGE 40
meter traps on it - onto.

My neighboring metal scrap yard has some very nice solid stainless steel
pipe, in several sections that can be joined together easily with
couplers, at a real bird price (read: CHEEP CHEEP).

My problem??  THIS STUFF IS HEAVY!!! I have a 36 inch long sample of the
stuff here to see if it will fit the neck of the top section (which it
does beautifully), but it weighs 22 pounds! I figure if I get the amount
of this stuff I want, the mast will weigh around 100 to 110 pounds!

YIKES!!! This beam will be turned by a Hygain Ham IV rotor (of course,
this is the version sold by CDR before Hygain swallowed them up), which
leads to these questions:

* Is this overkill? Granted, there isn't a wind that will even bounce
this stuff, let alone flex it, and I do plan to guy the heck out of the
tower.
* Keep in mind, we are dealing with solid steel here, so no problem with
water down the pipe. But will the rotor handle this? As for the crank, I
have aircraft quality cable to attach to the arm that lowers and raises
this setup, so strength of that stuff should be no problem.
* If I use this, should I add more concrete to the base?
* I also plan to put a 6 meter beam and, in the future, a 2/220/440
tribander beam on this pole. Do those contraptions pose a problem in any
way?

I just feel sorry for the rotor in this case. Email me direct with any
and all thoughts...

Tom Smith    N8DXR

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