[TowerTalk] aluminum mast again

[K4IA at aol.com]

You can buy the MARC program from Champion Radio for $10 and it will 
calculate this for you even suggesting the type of mast material.  They will email the 
program to you.  It would be $10 will spent.

I used a 1 1/2 inch 6061 with 1/4 wall and it seemed very "whippy" to me.  It 
is also not that light and is expensive.  24 feet cost me $250.  2" would be 
even more expensive by a big margin.  I had to use 1 1/2 because I mounted to 
a chimney and that was as big as the brackets would handle.    Unfortuantely 
the MARC program does not calculate for 1 1/2 inch mast so I had to guess and I 
underestimated.  

To get rid of the whip, I strengthened it with a piece of 2" steel fence pipe 
slipped (forced) over the outside for that part that was above the chimney 
brackets.  That stiffened it up quite a bit but added to the weight.  

I believe it would have been better to have used a 2" mast of thinner wall 
and stronger material to start with.  2 inch 6061 with a 1/4 inch wall is going 
to be heavier than you think.  I guess someone on here will do the math and 
tell you the weight.  I doubt if it will be much less than 98 pounds. 

I am sure it will be stiffer than my 1 1/2 inch but 16 feet above the tower I 
bet it turns into a tuning fork.

Radio k4ia
Craig"Buck"
Fredericksburg, Virginia USA