Antenna Down

[wa2fxm]

(sigh). I never learn. 2nd time in 3 years. Wimpy chainlink fence rail can't stand Vermont winters.

Mark - WA2FXM

[n8fvj]

Darn.

[W3GMS]

You need a tower for that kind of WX!  Even a small tower would work.  Either that on guy the mast.
Joe-GMS 

[wa2fxm]

Hey Joe, Yes my guying was not well thought out. The post is at the top of the river bank and there's only about 15 feet to the river edge (right now) so not enough triangulation. But I only had one guy. Maybe two would have saved it? The whole area actually floods every year with the Spring snow melt (too bad it's not ocean salt water). Maybe a smaller half-size version of this tilt up mast is in order. I don't think doubled up 2x4's even unguyed would be a problem.
Mark - WA2FXM

[W1ITT]

About 55 years ago I believed everything I saw in the ARRL Handbook.  I built one of these wooden towers, having lashed the lumber to my bicycle to get it home from the lumber store.  The end product was heavy and ungainly and awfully expensive for what little height it got me.  I went over to the Rohn tubular push-up masts, guyed as best as I could.Back then the Rohn masts were less than a dollar a foot.  Not any more.
My later iteration with a 50 foot push-up mast was guyed four ways with the top guys being a pair of 80/75 meter dipoles in parallel on the same open wire feeder.  I learned later, building FM broadcast panel arrays, that a pair of stagger tuned dipoles, offset by 5% or so, in front of a vertical panel, will give circular polarisation at mid frequency, and go kinda elliptical off frequency.  With stagger tuned dipoles over the ground at normal ham radio  heights, this would give CP straight up.  Especially at sunrise/sunset when the ionosphere is changing, this gives some relief from rotation fading
I think my father ended up salvaging the lumber from that stupid Handbook "tower" and building shelves in the cellar.
73 de Norm W1ITT

[Opcom]

They may have thought 2x4s were still $1 each.

[wa2fxm]

I tied it off to the post for now. The neighbor won't come to hay the field until next June so I've got all winter and spring to ponder.

Mark - WA2FXM

[wa2fxm]

The next ice storm 7 days later took the entire V-Beam down. The old Radio Shack mast on the roof finally had enough. So the plan is to replace the whole thing with a very long (400+ foot) dipole in the spring. Which material would be stronger for a roof mast, 2" O.D , 0.125in wall thickness aluminum mast pipe or the Rohn galvanized #16 steel mast pipe. The mast will be side mounted on the house with no more than 8 or 10 foot above the roof top.

Mark - WA2FXM

[W1ITT]

Mark..   I'd go with the larger OD material in general as it's more resistant to bending.  My recollection is that the top section of the Rohn push-up mast is either 1" or 1 1/4.  And it goes up to around 2" at the bottom of the 50 footer. 
Another material to look at for a relatively short mast is  chain link fence top rail.  Some of it is sturdier than others, but it comes in 20 foot lengths and you could join a couple bracket to the house, guy near the top and probably be OK.  When using open wire to feed a dipole I like to put about 5 feet of something nonconductive at the top so the OWL doesn't contact metal.
73 de Norm W1ITT

[wa2fxm]

Thanks Norm for reminding me about open wire line and metal masts. Maybe I'll just go with a long 2" x  4". As far as chain link fence railing the first picture at the top of the thread is everything I know about that subject.

Mark - WA2FXM

[W1ITT]

i was told that there are at least two grades of top rail.  One is the happy homeowner stuff designed to keep Rover and the kids in the yard.  The other is commercial grade with better wall thickness. 
Norm