[Lowfer] LowFER Grabber and Converter

[ToddRoberts2001 at aol.com]

I have worked with a 40 ft TV push-up mast in the past. 
(Actual length about 36 ft) I added a
ten-foot length of 1-1/4" steel tubing on the top to make it 46ft long  
total.
 
The galvanized steel push-up mast  was extremely heavy and hard to  handle 
compared to an  aluminum mast. There are several ham suppliers of  aluminum
tubing in six-foot sections that are much lighter and easier to
set up. DXEngineering is one supplier. The tubing with the slotted ends  
that use hose clamps are nice but
be sure to use some kind of electricians grease between the sections to  
insure good
electrical contact with the antenna out in the weather. The connections can 
 degrade 
quickly with aluminum to aluminum contact and moisture.  The insides  of 
the mast can quickly
saturate with condensed water and water vapor. It should be allowed to  
drain on the bottom.
Drill a weep hole on the very bottom to let the moisture out.
 
73 - Todd WD4NGG
 
In a message dated 9/23/2012 5:37:11 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
evp at pacbell.net writes:

I'm sure those new verticals would be great but not inexpensive.  As I  
recall the price [circa 1980 to be true] of a 30 foot pushup mast was  
around $40.00 and guys here in Socal didn't bother making connections  
between sections - at least when they were new there was enough  
metal-to-metal contacts between the sections.  Top loads are a problem  
but one can get out a fairly decent signal without one. Good ground  
mandatory of course.

Ed