MFJ-1796 - On Hold Part 2

I received a response from Gigaparts over night. It wasn't terribly helpful - apologetic, effectively just that they don't carry parts and that my best bet would be to contact the manufacturer. 

Certainly not quite as helpful as I'd have expected, but anyway, I don't mind dealing with MFJ directly anyway. It'd be good to make sure they know about the drama. Their log a support ticket page is atrocious.

It also doesn't send a confirmation email. I can't say I like that so much either.

Moving on...

I was thinking yesterday about changing my antenna mount. The big motivator was dealing with the 3.9m x 65mm steel pole that I was going to jack up on my existing mount with the antenna on top. I think quite simply, that's just too hard.. the pole is too damned heavy. 

I think instead I'll use that pole as the base pole, and use a much narrower and lighter pole to put the antenna on. 

The plan:

- Remove the existing pole and wall mount - otherwise known as the "bucket mast" given that it's in a bucket full of concrete.

- Disassemble the existing wall mount (it's two pieces of timber together with the side closest to the wall dynabolted in), and drill through the outer to put a bolt in to attach a clamp for the 65mm pole.

- Find enough timber and dynabolts to prepare a second, lower wall mount. Given the additional weight it seems prudent to have an additional support in place. 

- Find a new, large bucket (or recover the one from the existing mount if I can get it off, which I doubt.

- Drill a pair of holes, around 900mm apart on the 65mm pole and match them on the lower end of the smaller pole. This is for the future when I can actually jack it up high enough, but will probably be a two person job involving someone standing on the roof to support it. Possibly some antenna installers who can put some guy wires on it in the process.

- Place the 65mm pole in the bucket, mount in the wall mounts and get it level. Mix concrete, fill bucket and let set. It won't be quick-set, so that might take a couple of days. I need to do this in place as it's the only way I can support something so high while it sets. 

- Once the concrete is ready, I'll mount the antenna to the top of the smaller pole, stand it up, and use a couple of U bolts to attach to the larger pole. From there I should be able to work my way up to a half reasonable height.

I'd tossed this idea up a few times but didn't really want to replace the existing mast setup. Having felt the amount of pressure on the antenna alone on a reasonably windy day though, it's fairly clear that this is going to need a pretty solid support and the least amount of surface area possible at height.