[TowerTalk] using utility (wooden) poles

[Michael J. Castellano]

Having worked on a pole gang (telephone) years ago, one caveat I always remembered was that pole may not necessarily carry the intended load.

The main contributing factors are of course, soil type, and type of load. One must remember... ALL utility poles are guyed, NO exception. Either by dedicated guys or by the wires and cables they carry. 

Understandibly, they are pretty strong, and quite indestructible, but they are not without weaknesses in load capability.

One cannot just install, say an unguyed  60 foot pole,  and hang a 40m beam on it. There IS some engineering involved. The best thing for peace of mind (and keeping the insurance company happy) is to bite the bullet and spend a few bucks on an engineer. You might find one at the local utility who is willing to moolight.

And wooden poles are not totally transparent (RF wise) to an antenna system, since a properly installed pole must have a ground bus running from the top to bottom.. 

other than that, they are a good source of antenna supports.

Mike KM1R

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