[TowerTalk] Carbon fiber for mast and antennas

[Ignacy Misztal]

Gigaparts has a line for carbon fiber masts from 25ft that they say can
support up to 30 lb. The masts are incredibly light. A 34 ft mast weighs
5lb and a 50ft mast is 9 lb. I tried them at the SEDCO mtg and they are
very strong. In comparison, a 10m aluminum mast from Spiderbeam is 20lb and
the 48 ft mast is 45 lb.

https://www.gigaparts.com/premium-50-foot-carbon-fiber-mast.html

I use the 48lb Spiderbeam mast to support the 20-10m Spiderbeam as a
multiplier/WARC antenna. The mast was a dog to erect due to its weight. The
carbon fiber would be much easier. If it can bend without breaking,
perhaps one set of guys is enough.

The masts appear to be sourced from Alibaba.
https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/carbon-fiber-antenna-mast.html

The masts can be used to support lightweight antennas, especially if made
from carbon fiber. Before I had the commercial Spiderbeam, I made one for
20m from cheap teelecoping carbon fiberpoles + 20 ga wire.  It weighed 3
lb, worked as well as the commercial one and withstood a couple of months
of bad weather. Due to the poles being conductive, the wires had to be
separated a few inches from the pole.

With carbon fiber there is the possibility of creating antennas
perhaps weighing 5% of the original weight. See
https://www.rylwy.com/carbon-antenna. Think of a 3 el full size for 40m
that weighs 10 lb or a 15 element tribander weighing the same.

Ignacy NO9E