Push Up Mast becomes a Pushover and Toss Out Mast

Today I was forced to take down my push up mast the hard way, by pushing it over until it hit the ground. So glad that I didn’t hurt anyone or anything.

Since it actually hit a fence with the base at one end and the antennas on the other side of the fence, I even managed to save all the antennas. Didn’t damage the fence either. Woo hoo.

All this came about as a result of some very powerful winds in January that bent the mast. That, in turn, prevented it from being lowered via the telescoping mast sections. Instead, it had to come down the hard way. It had reached a tipping point.

Push Up Mast History

I had acquired the Rohn H40 mast in 2012 to support my 15-meter moxon for contests. It was a temporary set up near our backyard deck and only up for weekends.

In 2014 I had the bright idea to set it up in my side yard and mount a rotor and six meter stressed moxon at the top. That worked great and didn’t challenge the mast too much. The problem in that side yard is that the mast can’t be guyed unless my neighbor would be kind enough to let me drill into his house to anchor one of the guys. That he let me put this thing up at all is amazing.

Walking out on a Limb

Of course, the moxon wasn’t enough. Next there was the 6 meter 3-element LFA Yagi that went up in 2015. The boom and elements were the maximum that would fit in that side yard.

Later that year I added cheap yagis for 2 meters and 70 cm. Then in 2016 I put up Diamond yagis oriented for satellites. Finally, in 2017 I added a 23 cm helix.

My hunch is that all this aluminum and weight at the top of the mast reached a tipping point, if you will. And so it bent in the Texas wind.

A Good Run

Glad I tried all those antennas and that I still have them in my garage for later installations as well as for my VHF contest rover efforts.

Next will be to explore some possibilities in the attic for omnidirectional antennas and perhaps the rotor with small yagis. We’ll see what’s possible as the next stage in my ham radio adventures.