[MistahTibbs]

Best way to secure 20' mast attached to side of house...

Hey all,

Cutting the satellite cord and setting up a couple of antenna for TV.

Two story house.
20' antenna mast (2 10' put together)
I have wall brackets attached to the north side of the house. Top one about a foot below the soffit and the lower bracket 3' below the top bracket.

I tried a 10' mast only but it wasn't quite high enough and I really don't want to use a rotor. So I'm hooking up a couple of AntennaDirect units DB8 & DB8e (the DB8e I could have done with another DB8 but I've already attached it and used it so...no return) And if I understand correctly they should be a couple of vertical feet apart as well. I'll be using a Winegard combiner for the two antenna.
Anyway, I may only have to go up another 5' but if I have to extend the mast the full extra 10',(16-17' of mast above the top bracket) I'm gonna need to secure the mast with some cables as it's wobbly.
It appears the standard way is 3 cables each at 120 degrees. Two of the cables won't be a problem going southwest and southeast where there's roof but the 3rd would have to have to go on the north side of the mast which is just open air. So what's my best option for securing the mast if it's necessary? How do I take care of that north cable attachment?

Thanks for reading.

mt

 

[Tom.F.1]

Hi mt,
IMHO, 2 Antennas on a 20 ft mast and a wall mount sounds extreme to me. Maybe a disaster waiting to happen. I don't know what kind of wall bracket, but a standard 18" or 12" isn't meant to take that much weight. And if you put guy wires on it, you add a lot of weight with pull-down force. 3rd guy wire can go to ground with the proper anchor.

The way to do it, if you really want to stick with wall mount, is make your brackets more secure.
The only time I did a longer mast with wall mounts, I used 2 set of wall brackets, 4-5' apart. 2 at top, 2 at bottom. I attached them with lead anchors in the brick, with stainless steel 5'16 lag bolts. Then I used 1-1/2" conduit for the bottom pipe, and 1-1/4" conduit for the top pipe. Overlap 24", and drill and bolt through.
I ended up almost 13' above the eves trough.

Good luck. But wouldn't a J-Mount on the roof make more sense?

 

[MistahTibbs]

Hey Tom,

Thanks for the response.

FYI, the bottom bracket has a support from where the mast is secured to the wall below and seems very solid. Think right angle triangle when viewed from the side with the wall one of the sides of the triangle. Was thinking of getting a second support bar for the top bracket to make it more secure. Also, I used lag screws into the wall studs (wall is vinyl siding)
So you're saying I'd be better served attaching to a J-mount on the roof and guy wire from there?

mt

 

[57]

Rather than using guy wires to two locations on the roof, you could consider two solid connections (poles?), which would take forces in both directions (compression and tension) rather than simply in tension like a cable. The "north" wire would then not be required. I assume that the main mast is large enough to handle the wind and other forces up from the last support. What is the diameter?

 

[MistahTibbs]

The mast is 1.5 inches and 16 gauge galvanized steel.. It's very strong and not overly heavy but has a lot of sway when the mast is the full height.
I understand what you're saying, 57. Do two support rods to the mast from the roof. Locking in the mast so it doesn't move. Did the same thing years ago for a 12 inch metal chimney for our wood furnace at the time. Solid roof supports bolted to the side of the chimney.
That's a great idea. I'd just have to figure out how to secure the support poles to the mast. Perhaps U bolts and clamps?

 

[mrvanwinkles]

Mast Haul / fence post haul.

Recent Haul - Tubes - Salvaged fence posts (approx. 1.5" dia) and fence top tubes (approx. 1.25" dia)

They look long from the picture, but are only about 6 ft long. But good enough as a possible antenna masts.

I salvaged from the curb, a guy had a pile out front, of a chain link wire fence and posts he ripped out and was throwing away.

It was there for a long time, so finally I asked him, and he gave me the O.K. to take the posts.

A little rusty at the bottom, but I wire brushed with wire wheel on grinder, and then painted with silver paint.

Will make good antenna masts for future projects - I'm sure.

 

[Jeeves]

Antenna Mount

Hi all,
I just purchased a CM4228HD and currently have it installed in my garage. I plan on mounting it outside on my chimney in the near future. I was wondering the pros and cons of a J pole mount versus chimney straps. I want the strongest option possible. I was leaning toward concrete anchors with a J pole but am wondering if straps would be more secure. Has anyone ever seen a J pole with two mounting plates? One at the bottom and one maybe 20 inches up. I figure this would share the load and stress put on the chimney in high winds/bad weather.

 

[interdit_450]

Hello Jeeves

I'd put my money on the chimney straps. They will not only securely mount your antenna but they will actually help hold your chimney together. Another advantage with the straps is you can go with a longer pole than the J-mount so you can get your antenna just a bit higher. The stress is a lot less on your chimney with this setup, especially with a larger-style antenna like the CM4228HD. I've seen some people have issues over time with their brick and mortar by using J-mounts on their chimneys. It's a lot of weight and drilling holes into brick can be an invitation for water infiltration which will crack and crumble the brick over time.

If you really must go with a J-mount, use TapCons and position the foot in such a way that each hole goes into a different brick. Ideally, you should put a small dab of thermoplastic caulking into the pilot hole hole before screwing in the TapCons. Caulk the top and sides (but not the very bottom) of the J-mount foot to prevent water from getting in between the foot and brick

Not sure about ever seeing a J-pole with a second brace / foot but you can probably make one using a some brackets from a hardware store and some creativity.

Good luck!

 

[Jase88]

Agreed with the advice above. An 8-bay antenna is a little large in terms of wind/ice load for a j-mount. You can also achieve a somewhat greater height with a mast held by chimney straps.

 

[Jeeves]

Thanks for the great feedback guys, I may have to consider a tower as an option as well. Chimney mount would work best but not sure I want to risk it. Besides I will get more elevation with a tower, but I just gotta figure out how to hide it from my wife..lol

 

[orbot]

how to attach 7698 to side of house?

I'd like to move my winegard 7698 antenna from the tower to the side of the house at the peak (pic1, pic2) but I'm not sure what method to use.

My goal is to have the antenna at the side of the house where the tv is and be able to manually turn the mast from the balcony to aim it for dxing (instead of buying a new rotor), if possible. So I was thinking of putting up a mast that sits in a simple wooden base screwed into the balcony floor that secures it and locks the aim (raise the mast out of the base to turn it, lower into base to lock it). From the balcony floor to the peak of the roof is about 15', so I thought about putting two 10' masts together and securing it with some kind of mount at the peak of the roof (an eave mount?). What would you guys recommend?

To turn the mast after it's secured to the mounts, I wondered if you could secure the mounts to a slightly wider pipe and slide the mast inside so that it's snug, but turnable?

 

[stampeder]

...a mast that sits in a simple wooden base screwed into the balcony floor

I would stay away from having any load-bearing or stress-bearing parts made of wood or non-metal.

How much higher than the peak of the roof do you want the antenna to be at? You could put up a pole of Schedule 40 or Schedule 80 black iron pipe or else galvanized pipe and stand it up from inside a matching collar flange that has been bolted into the deck, then attach the upper end of the pole to the peak of the roof joists with a collar bracket. Both collars would be tightened to be snug while still allowing turning. A third collar would be the critical one: mount it at a convenient height so that it firmly locks the pole into place when you're done turning it so that wind storms don't whirl your antenna around. You can buy everything you need for this at a good plumbing supply shop or even a muffler shop. Stick with metal parts and you'll be glad you did.

I used to know a guy a long time ago who rotated his antenna from his easy chair with ropes and pulleys, so yes it is definitely possible to do what you require.

 

[orbot]

Thanks for the help, stampeder. Rotating the antenna with ropes and pulleys while sitting sounds like fun!

Ideally I'd like the antenna as high as possible. But for now we're just trying a quick fix with whatever parts we have lying around and not spending any money yet. Also a slight change in plans, it turns out the tower doesn't have a concrete base, so we're going to try to move it beside the balcony. Not sure what kind of tower it is, it was already here when we moved in, but it's bracketed and has 18 gauge written on the steps. We were going to attach the brackets to the balcony and add another to the overhang of the roof.

 

[pips]

ok so i used the thread search feature on guy wire and may other keywords and well no luck so ill ask,im looking for suggestions on guy wire size and type.now understand in doing something stupid so gonna have to get creative.i have a 45 ft bracketed 3 leg tower.common type u see everywhere.my home insurance wouldnt let me hook it to house due to it being a house trailor with large addition.so we topped a red oak sealed it and dug a 4 ft hole and sset tower and strapped it to oak tree.works well and supports a crappy 16 bay well.now we are putting a 10ft dish on the side of it and guy wires are a must.i have utility pole ground anchors so all i need now is the cable.what size and type would you guys recommend?i have seen kits with 3/16 cable but not sure if that will be heavy enough.lot of wind sheer on that dish.at ground level i had it strapped to 4 wheeler and wind picked it up and flipped it over on its face.also what type of cable ebay has aircraft cable in rolls.any help would be appriciated

 

[byebye_cable]

Where to get pipe bent?

I need to replace my existing pipe antenna mount & it's a complicated 3-bend.

Can anyone recommend a good place to get pipe bent?

The "stock" answer here is muffler shop, but then you have to use muffler pipe & I'm not sure that's the best choice for strength/durability?

 

[Pete Higgins]

byebye_cable

The only other places that come to mind would be a machine shop or maybe a plumbing shop. If you have a friend with a torch, you could try filling a length of pipe with sand, cap it and heat it until you got the bends you wanted. The sand just helps prevent kinks. If you come up with a better idea, please share. Good luck.

 

[rabbit73]

Can anyone recommend a good place to get pipe bent?

Electricians bend the smaller sizes of EMT steel conduit (thin wall) with a hand tool called a hickey. Larger industrial sizes of rigid steel conduit need a hydraulic bender.

http://www.alliedeg.us/products/

EMT conduit
http://www.alliedeg.us/emt/

GRC conduit
http://www.alliedeg.us/galvanized-rigid-steel-conduit/

GRC sizes
http://www.alliedeg.us/galvanized-rigid-steel-conduit/conduit/

IMC conduit
http://www.alliedeg.us/imc-metal-conduit/

IMC sizes
http://www.alliedeg.us/imc-metal-conduit/imc-conduit/

 

[rabbit73]

im looking for suggestions on guy wire size and type......i have a 45 ft bracketed 3 leg tower.common type u see everywhere......i have seen kits with 3/16 cable but not sure if that will be heavy enough.

Talk to the guys at DX Engineering

http://www.dxengineering.com/search/brand/rohn?gclid=CMO148u72MUCFdKIfgodCxAAWw

http://www.3starinc.com/rohn_towers_and_masts

http://www.3starinc.com/rohn_316_inch_extra_high_strength_guy_wire_strand_ehs_500_feet.html

 

[buyabook]

If I decide to go with a J mount, how tall should the J Mount be for a an antenna as large as the CM 4228HD?

 

[Ultra]

16-foot mounting straps?

I want to mount my antenna to my chimney, but it has a 16' perimeter and there seems to be a market-wide limit of 12'. Where can I get a mount for that?