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sch 80 black iron

avistar23

Active Member
May 17, 2005
182
32
38
35
Nassau Bahamas
anyone ever used it out the center of a tower? i have very limited selection here, and that seems to be the strongest pipe i can find, i need stronger than sch40 water pipe or rigid conduit.
 

I use Home Depot black pipe for my PDL 4 with a seventeen foot boom. Have seven foot above the top section. No problems.
 
You are going to have a lot of people tell you not to use it but i will be the first to tell you to go ahead and use it depending on the length you need. For years and years I ran 2 inch OD black iron water pipe for a mast despite all the "pros" saying to never use water pipe as it is made to withstand a lot less stresses than mast material. I ran over 25 feet of it unsupported on top of a four inch well casing pipe at the end of the house. It held a 5/8 groundplane for 11m and later I cut it down to support a Wilson Shooting Star on the tower with about six feet above the tower top. This was a load of a bit over 5 sq. ft at six feet above the tower which was 40 feet high and located on a hilltop exposed W-I-D-E open to the nor'easterlies and sou'westerlies which are our highest winds. Never a problem. None. Zero. Zip.

So how long a mast do you need and what will it support?

BTW check the Larcan thread later tonight or tomorrow morning. I will post pix of my output connector conversion. Working on the pix now and have to write it up after supper.
 
i have not used it on a tower, but i have a 20 foot section of water pipe with another 6 foot of thinner pipe on top of it. it is guyed at about 15 feet and has survived 50+ mile winds.
 
it will be on top of 30 feet of rohn 25g

5 feet of it will be secured to the side of the tower, 15 feet out.

top of it will have a gulph alpha 2m 11x11 element i think 15 foot boom, but light

below that a directive systems 6m 5 element,

big antennas for VHF, but not so big in the relm of antennas.

i previously had them on two towers separately, but im tired of taking so many towers down in hurricane season



warren, my larcan is on hold, been busy at work, and sunk alot of money in a new tig welding setup, but i will be on the air in due time. i have everything i need except a relay.

ive used these types of pipe before, with no issues, but im going a bit further out with it now, however sch 80 should cover me.
 
SCH.80 black pipe

i live on the lake erie lake front & for 23yrs ive had a full 21 feet of it in my tower this time of year i get very bad winds off of the lake i have it 11 feet in the tower & 10 foot out of the tower with a moon racker 4 on it the only thing ive had to do with it in all that time is not with the pipe but lowered it replaced the coax & replaced the ham5 rotor in it so for my money i have had no trouble out of the blak pipe mast has stood in there 100% for me
 

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