Thanks, Colin, for all these great suggestions.

I'll let you and everyone know what I ultimately decide.

73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 1:49 PM
Subject: Re: Another Antenna Support Idea


tom:
if you use the heavier wall gage PVC, it'll work fine.
even the thin wall stuff would certainly be strong enough, even at a 30FT,
unguyed height, but it would be too flexible and probably break the wires as
it moves around in the wind.
we're not talking about 1 inch PVC like you see for household fosets and so
on, but more like the 2.5 inch drain or irrigation pipes.
4 inch sooer PVC pipe would be too big and too heavy and over kill, but
anything around the 2 or 2 and a quarter or 2 and ahalf inch variety with
the heavier walls would be great.  Cheap, light, and you can easily drill
holes in the plastic for guying, or running antenna wires through.
it'll flex, but won't break under normal weather conditions...that is, no
major hurricanes or tornados.
If you can locate a farm or agracultural supply store nearby, you can
probably buy irrigation pipe or land drain pipe that will suit your needs
cheaply and in whatever lengths you need.

the only down side to not using a conductive mast, is that lightening will
most definitely try to come down the feedline instead of straight to the
ground through a metal support.
You can always run a heavy duty ground wire down the non-conductive mast to
a ground rod for this purpose.  Lightening is always a tricky beast, but
giving it a direct path to ground, not through the equipment in your shack
is certainly a plus in my mind.
You could also check out square channel tubing...most hardware stores have
this in 8 and 10 foot sections...very strong due to the square channel
instead of the round, so you can go to a smaller diameter for less cost this
way.  Also, far easier to drill out compared with round metal tubing, for
connecting sections or guy points, or wire insulators etc.
73
Colin, V A6BKX