[TowerTalk] Aluminum mast

[Bruce Ferratt]

Rich-
Thanks for your email.
The mast is 1 1/4" OD.  Solid, round.  Side writing on the states it is ASTM 
6061-T6511 grade aluminum.  It was $66.  Weighs about the same as the seet 
6' mast that came with the tower.  I just don't like mounting a rotor right 
in the open section of Rohn25g,... it's gotta be lower inside the tower.
The beam is a Mosely TA-33M Tri-bander.  Longest element is 26ft---13ft each 
side of boom.  Boom is 14ft long.
The beam and stacked vertical 2m/440 will probably weigh under <40lbs at the 
most!
73
Bruce
K4BOF


>From: "RICHARD BOYD" <ke3q at msn.com>
>To: "Bruce Ferratt" <uglyatc at msn.com>
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Aluminum mast
>Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 09:06:13 -0500
>
>Sheesh!  That's quite an item you have there!  You might consider the scrap 
>value of aluminum and sell it to a scrap metal dealer and use the money to 
>buy a steel mast.  The piece of stock you have there could be worth many 
>hundreds of dollars, in the value of the aluminum.
>
>Aluminum is inherently soft compared to steel.  A solid aluminum mast may 
>be more prone to bending than a hollow, thick wall, one.  I have some thick 
>wall aluminum tubing that previous hams probably acquired to use as masts, 
>and they are very heavy.  I plan to use them only for short (like two feet) 
>splice pieces for booms for large HF monobanders.  It's very expensive 
>stuff, and I believe steel masts are better and stronger and more 
>economical too.
>
>I buy "heavy duty fence post" steel tubing stock from Long Fence.  I have 
>bought a 24 foot piece of 3" steel mast for as little as $50 (they are 
>often confused and don't know what to charge for it so the prices vary).  
>3" is much stronger than 2" and nicer to climb if you end up climbing the 
>mast above the tower, as I sometimes have to.
>
>73 - Rich, KE3Q (Bowie, Maryland)
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Bruce Ferratt<mailto:uglyatc at msn.com>
>   To: towertalk at contesting.com<mailto:towertalk at contesting.com>
>   Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 10:56 PM
>   Subject: [TowerTalk] Aluminum mast
>
>
>   Hello and thanks for letting me post a question.
>   How strong is a solid aluminum mast compared with a walled/hollow mast?
>   I secured a solid, round 12' aluminum mast 6061-T6511 grade.  What is 
>the likelihood of bending when loaded with a TM-33A and VHF 2m/440 vertical 
>at a rated 70mph wind load in Northern Virginia?  8ft of mast will be 
>exposed above the point of the tower peak (Rohn 25G), with about 4 ft 
>inside the tower to rotor plate.
>   Thanks
>   Bruce
>   K4BOF
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