[TVARC] Flagpole Wind Load

[Rich Erlichman]

You answered part of your own question with the tilt-over base. Makes 
for it being very easy to lower it to the ground and due to the severity 
of any given storm you can either leave flat on the ground, or 
disassemble it and secure it in your garage.
I use the NOAA warnings as a guideline for taking it down or leaving it 
up. If you have a "Tropical Storm" (>75 mph) or worse coming towards 
you, I would secure it in the garage. The last two storms that even came 
close to our area, were not close enough for me to take mine down.
I did have a windstorm in our area this past June and I was away at the 
time. Sure enough Murphy's Law played its part, and caused my Cobweb to 
come down below the tiltover section. My own fault for not using a 
strong enough lower mast section from the ground. My flagpole/antenna 
made it with no issues.
Having had a 6BTV years ago, and knowing the rigidity (or lack of) in 
the PVC, I would watch out for winds greater that 50 mph.

73, Rich ND4G

------ Original Message ------
>From rick at kd9my.com
To TVARC at mailman.qth.net
Date 8/27/2023 4:03:20 PM
Subject [TVARC] Flagpole Wind Load

>Hello all,
>
>I finally got my 6BTV installed this week and disguised as a flag pole 
>(2-1/2” pvc).
>
>Ground plane is a combination of radials and 45 sq ft of ground screen 
>bonded to an 8’ driven ground rod at the base.
>
>Preliminary testing shows good results on FT8.
>
>
>
>My question is:
>
>Do others lower the antenna/flagpole when high winds are predicted?  If 
>so, what speed?
>
>The whole thing does move around a little with the wind.
>
>I used the DX Engineering tilt over base so, it won’t be  hard to fold 
>over if needed.
>
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>Rick KD9MY
>
>
>
>
>
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