[TowerTalk] Sorry to bring up an oldie - Mast Material

[clayj at nwlink.com]

So - pardon me for jumping in here; but, I have a similar question/problem.

I'm putting up a remote weather station (in Prosser, Washington - in the
middle of what used to be a wheat field); and need some advice on masts.  
The station itself, and the solar panel that powers it will be on a 10' 1
1/2" Radio Shack mast, with the bottom 2' in a 5 gal bucket full of
concrete that I intend to bury so that the top of the mast will be 6'
above ground.  The solar panel is 1' x 2.5' and mounted at a 25 degree
angle from vertical; almost at the top of the mast and the weather station
electronics and radio are in a 1'x 1' x 3" box mounted about 3' up the
mast.

On TOP of that whole mess (U-Bolted to the mast); I need to put a small 2M
Yagi (to get the signal 60 miles to the nearest digipeater).  Since the
Yagi will be vertical, the mast it mounts on has to be non-metallic.    I
had planned on mounting about a 5' piece of grey (sch 40?) 1" water pipe
bolted to the top of the metal mast, so that about 4' of it was above the
top of the metal mast.

But, this discussion's making me think perhaps I should re-think things.

Any advice anyone can give me would be really appreciated - one of the
things I'm trying to decide is if I need guy wires or not (I'm thinking
yes, but if I can get away w/o 'em...).

Thanks in advance!

Clay
N7QNM