antenna mast

[twolf816]

i need to put my antenna higher up. whats the pro's and con's of a roof mount mast as opposed to a 1 1/4 pole in the ground?

 

[W4KRR]

A typical 20 foot TV type mast can often be mounted on the ground at the side of your house with only a house bracket for support. Obviously, mounting this same 20 foot mast on top of your roof will get it up higher, but it will need to be guyed, which is more difficult than a ground mounted, house bracketed arrangement.

They do make so called tripod mounts that can be mounted to the roof and a length of mast attached. Depending on the size of the tripod and the length of the mast, it may not require guying, but you need to see if this would get the antenna up any higher than just doing a ground mounted mast at the side of the house.

Also some roof styles are not well suited to mounting an antenna mast on them, like a cement tile roof. An asphalt shingle roof would be easier to attach to, but you would have to make sure any holes you make would be well sealed or you would end up with a leaky roof. Not good! :wink:

 

[rescue161]

Plus grounding an antenna that is mounted on the roof is a lot more involved than a standard 'ground' mount.

 

[JGP]

If a roof mounted tripod is used for the antenna, you should use a length of 2" x 6" bolted under the plywood of the roof. Holes for the tripod have to be made any way. So buy bolts long enought to go through the tripod,the plywood of the roof, and the 2" x 6" under the roof, nuts, and washers.

This will keep the tripod bolted to the roof and will not blow over in big wind storms. I learned this the hard way when my CB antenna blew down in a wind storm. People later tiped me off to doing this, and it works well.

Electrical conduit also makes a good mast.

Joel

 

[ironhorse1]

4 inch schedule 40 PVC works pretty good too! I have 30 feet of it plus 4 feet of 1 inch as a mast. I put it in the ground 3 feet and it works great. The hardest part was getting the thing upright.

:shock: