Topband: Vertical construction

Ron Feutz feutz at wctc.net
Sun Jan 8 11:22:59 EST 2006


TB'ers,

I want to rebuild my cheap and dirty wire inverted L 4-sq this 
spring.  Its in an oak woods, so would like to eliminate any 
horizontal loading wires.

The Mast Company http://www.tmastco.com/ has an "extra-heavy-duty" 
22' telescoping fiberglass mast available.  Henry, the proprietor, 
has no data on wind survivability of these masts, but they are 
designed to hold up wind socks with no guys, so I'm betting they can 
handle most anything Wisconsin WX can throw at them.

Does it sound practical to make an 88' vertical with, say, 30' of 4" 
irrigation tube, 30' of 3" tube, and then one of these masts?
Assume adequate guying - for now I would like advice on raising such 
a beast - would it be strong enough to raise with a gin pole or 
falling derrick system?

Also, would it help performance to helically wind 30' or so of wire 
on the 22' of fiberglass to electrically lengthen it a bit?
Matching and tuning would be accomplished with a fat coil at the bottom.

The other option would be to top load the 60'ers with the top guys, 
but they will be coming down at a steep angle, probably 30 degrees or 
less, to accommodate the oak trees.

73 Ron KK9K




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