Rick,

You had mentioned putting up a mast and using wire instead of rope to  guy 
it.    Depending on how close the wires are to the antenna, you could have a 
serious problem since the wires will affect the antenna tuning and 
performance.

If you are worried about vandles, one trick is to use wire at the bottom, 
maybe the first 10 feet and then rope from there up.   That way anybody at 
ground level  has to deal with wire,  while the antenna only sees the 
non-conductive rope.   Don't use nylon rope unless it is just a temporary 
deal.   Nylon will stretch and will rot in the sun from the UV.  Dacron, 
which you can get from any ham supplier, and maybe from Homo Depot, is UV 
resistant, non stretch, easy to untie and is much stronger compared to the 
same size nylon rope.

73, Steve KW3A