The final part of the Mast #2 build – and today we go for the big lift. This is the smaller 12m / 40ft tilt-over mast, a mini version of the bigger 19m / 62ft mast. It uses a falling derrick, winch, pulley system, temporary “orphan guys”, and a fair bit of Pythagoras to keep everything under control.
After the false start and redesign in the last video, this is where we find out if the geometry actually works.
There’s a lot going on in this one:
– setting the real guy lengths
– sorting the handover from temporary lines to permanent guys
– fitting the final pole
– dealing with wind, rope, pulleys and awkward geometry
– and finally getting the mast upright
– dealing with a stuck sheep(!)
Then we get to the fun question: what antenna should go on top?
Options include a simple 15m Yagi to get us started, a longer-term interleaved 15m / 6m Yagi, or maybe even a 15m and 6m cubical quad.
Vote in the comments: Yagi or Quad – and tell me why.
This has been hard work, but very satisfying. Mast #2 is up.
Chapters:
00:00 Can we get to 40ft today?
01:59 Orphan guys explained
03:02 Pythagoras and real guy lengths
07:27 Pulley and winch setup
10:14 Wind worries
12:25 First lift test
13:35 Did Pythagoras work?
16:38 Swapping temporary lines
18:21 Handover system
21:49 Time to add the final pole
30:16 Top guys fitted
31:34 The big lift
33:22 What antenna goes on top?
34:38 Interleaved 15m and 6m Yagi?
35:08 Cubical quad option
36:24 Final thoughts