[TowerTalk] Help identifying alloy in mast

[W3YY]

No questions about the post below, but FWIW, I've used 2" OD, 1/4"wall, aluminum masts for the last 45 years on my 100ft and 120ft towers with no problems.  Easy to cut and drill, compared to steel.  So, unless you have something huge to put up, consider that.

73, Bob - W3YY


-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of john at kk9a.com
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2020 2:30 PM
To: Richard (Rick) Karlquist
Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Help identifying alloy in mast

The first question is do you really need a 4130 mast or is 1026
sufficient.  1026 is pretty strong and if you need a stronger mast using 2"
diameter is probably not the best choice.  I have no idea why this
became the standard, but I have not used a 2" mast in decades. My 80 ft
tower has a homebrew 3" diameter 1026 DOM mast which if I recall correctly
is stronger and was definitely less money than Ø 2" 4130 plus it is easier
to clamp to and also climb. At my Aruba station I used Ø 2 1/2 6061 for my
4el monobanders which held up fine in that tropical environment.  I really
miss WD9P's online mast calculator, it made it easy to see how different
materials and different diameters and wall thicknesses
affected mast strength and what is needed for a given windload.

73,
John KK9A

Sent via the Samsung Galaxy 7 edge, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone.
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