Anyone know how to build a 30m/100ft tall mast/pole?

Hello everybody!

Anyone know how to build a 30m/100ft tall mast/pole?

I need this in order to support high in the air a wind measuring device and a web camera.

Both of them weigh less than 2 kg / 4 pounds.

I need the wind measuring for a project i have taken up.
The camera will just serve my UFO search endeavour... since i believe UFO s might be curious on the airplane signaling leds i will have to install.
I know i don t need a permit to instal the mast for that particular area i am interested in.

However the wind measuring project is on a very tight budget for its 2 year duration.

I would just go ahead and build the mast out of pipes and supporting cables but i am afraid of the thing resonating with air causing it to collapse.

Anyone know of a safe and cheap design? I don t mind using cables since i have ample space.
Main consideration of it is being cheap. I would favour the use of an existing design since i suppose it will fulfill all design parameters.

I thought of putting the webcam up on it since tha area is well known for UFO sightings and weird phaenomena.
Once the project gets going i will be happy to post you the webcam s address for live viewing.

Please if you have any experience knowledge or designs share them with me!

Be well!

[edit on 18/1/2009 by GEORGETHEGREEK]

I would just find a nice big tree to put the equipment in.

Camouflaged as well so less risky to loose the data.

Good luck

You can get a telescoping mast complete with guy wire rings and the guy wire for about 180 bucks at rat shack (Radio Shack) or find one at a ham fest, or run on down to the hardware store and get two 15 foot long poles, one at 2 inches ID and one at 1 3/4 ID. Mount 4 bolts on the 1 3/4 pole about 2 feet from its bottom, insert into the 2 inch ID pole, mount guy wire points at the top, and middle section of the entire pole and there you go.

Or go fancy and get you a Rohn self supporting tower for about 1,200 bucks.

Perhaps the tree idea is your cheapest route. Just remember that come spring, leaves grow on that tree so place your camera and wind instruments in a place where the leaves wont get in the way! And be considerate of environmental issues..such as birds or squirls etc.



Cheers!!!!

I have a simple solution for you. Go rent a penthouse apartment that's about 100 feet in the air and just build a smaller pole for your webcam.

How about a balloon / blimp - like one of the advertising ones? 2 years might be a bit of a stretch though, I would of thought something like that would have to come down for a helium top up every month or so.

reply to post by GEORGETHEGREEK


If you have a welder readily available this shouldn't be a hard task constructing a tower.
However you are talking about 100 ft. I'm not insulting your intelligence but do you have a grasp as to how long/tall 100ft is?

The construction of the mast is the easy part, but there are quite a few critical issues of concern.
Your budget for this mast plays a vital role in accomplishing your task.

The material needed for a project like this can be found at most trade stores, lumber yards, and even scrap yards.

But before you really go any further have you considered the following?

Do you have a working space to construct this? 100 ft mast requires a 100 foot working/storage space.

I suppose if you sectioned it off and constructed it on site this wouldn't be a great concern, but then you run into engineering issues with the connection points being strong enough to handle the load appropriately.

A related issue to the above is How do you exactly plan on erecting the mast. if its a 1 piece design, your going to need a crane and a couple of people experienced in setting a pole/mast.

Also you are going to need to think about how you want to anchor this thing in or to the ground.

You will need to pour some sort of concrete pad or anchor points.
How big of a concrete pad depends a lot on frost points in your area as well a the total load.

Your going to need guy wires to hold the mast steady. Anchoring points on the mast and distance from the mast will most likely depend on design and material of the mast.

There is much more involved, but as you can see these are some things you are going to have to consider before going any further . I hope I was helpful.

I think most of us already covered those aspects. Nice complex version of it tho.

Another suggestion to OP...maybe you should just contact some local ham who has such a tower setup and get tips from him/her.

Oh one more thing...if you live inside city limits, check your local ordiance codes for maximum tower/antenna pole hights. If you are a certian distance to overhead power lines, forget about putting up a 100 foot mast.



Cheers!!!!

reply to post by RFBurns

Another suggestion to OP...maybe you should just contact some local ham who has such a tower setup and get tips from him/her.

That's a good idea. Further more maybe he/she would let you mount your equipment on the tower for a small monthly fee.

reply to post by Grey Magic


I am afraid a tree is not an option since the area i have to put the mast has only low lying flora (plants) like bushes etc...

Nice idea though!

reply to post by DaVillen


Unfortunately there are no buildings at all within the area of interest....
Propably the highest manmade structure is the vehicle you use to get there...
Then ofcourse you can get higher by moving that vehicle on top of a rising ground anomaly... lol

Unfortunately i will have to use a mast for both devices.

reply to post by Now_Then


Baloon is not an option since i have to follow guidelines...
Its either a 30m mast or a 100m one...
Besides using the ballon method would render data for statistical analysis somewhat useless since i also have to record direction...

More over there would not be any control over the cams image...

Had thought of that option but dismised it soon enough.

Thanks! nice idea but not for this project...

I am not sure but I'm afraid that you'll need a crane or some great scaffolding inorder to build a one hundred foot high deal in the area that you mentioned. The best thing I can think of has allready been mentioned in this topic. I would say, if there is aluminum pipe available, use large diameter aluminum, if not, use steel or what ever. Water-main piping is what I am thinkin. Enough sections scewed together would make a hundred feet. How ever, you will need to FIRMLY anchor EACH section with cables from all four directions, obviously with the cables attached to the tops of each section.
I done know if you are planning on being able to personally access the equipment at the top, that is, to be able to climb this tower at any time, you would be dealing with real danger which the authorities might even interfere with for your safety. An attached ladder would be the only safe thing I know of.

reply to post by GEORGETHEGREEK


You will have to build it is sections, or use the extrusion method, and you will need a light at the top, and a license from the FCC for a tower that high. why not use a R/C plane, instead?

reply to post by highfreq



I have a profesional grade welder.

As i mentioned earlier i have to follow some rules and thus the 100 ft height.
Unfortunately i do have a very good grasp of what such a height means.
This is the reason i resolved in posting herein. No offence taken anyway.
I suppose i will have to control or extend the budget to the lowest possible amount for acomplishing the task at hand sucessfully...

Material wise i was thinking 2'' pipes of 3mm thickness and 5m length.
6 of them would make the total of 30m.
My plan was to use threaded piping connections to thread them together while having welded 3 hooks on each connection to attach the guy wires at 4 heights of subsequent conections. 5m, 10m, 15m, 20m, 25m.

Foundation wise i was thinking of a plate anchored in a reinforced mass concrete foundation within the soil of about 1.35 m³ volume with dimensions of 1.5m x 1.5m x 0.60m. i guess that would be enough for a foundation, weighting at about 3.24 tons.

Welded to that plate anchored in the mass foundation i was thinking to have a pin joint that would support my mast.
(this would enable me to erect it in one piece without having to use a crane.-just three farm tractors, two pulling the mast to a vertical stant and one keeping it back from overturning to the two tractors vector direction. To help visualise this consider that the guy wires follow a triangular layout-naturaly.)

Subsiquently the structure will come together on site where space is not a problem, and then erected in one piece.

One of my concerns is what you mentioned:

I suppose if you sectioned it off and constructed it on site this wouldn't be a great concern, but then you run into engineering issues with the connection points being strong enough to handle the load appropriately.

However i suppose that after all with carefull selection of the piping parts that should not be a problem...

Do you think it will?

As i mentioned farming tractors is what i plan to use for erection since a crane would cost far too much for this project.

The guy wires in my oppinion could be anchored to another 3 mass reinforced concrete foundations of about 0.4m depth x 1 m wide x 1m long and a volume of 0.4 m³. This should give a weight for each anchor foundation of about 0.96 tons, almost a ton.

How big of a concrete pad depends a lot on frost points in your area as well a the total load.

Unfortunately all these dimensions are just guesses as to fulfilling my design requirements since i dont know about load criteria to the specific design. There is no frost forming in the area at any time of the year.

Anchoring points on the mast and distance from the mast will most likely depend on design and material of the mast.

I described what i intend to be my anchoring points on the mast previously. However i do not have a clue as to the distance the 3 anchors should be from the mast. Any clues? If none i will propably use a half the height radious of 15m....

You were helpfull but unfortunately i havent come to a conclusion yet.

ANY HELP IS WELCOME !

reply to post by RFBurns


No, no this is a rural area.
I have no height restrictions (except for the one implied by physics!)
nor do i need a permit to erect the damn thing since i have spoken with the local council and i have taken the thumbs up both verbaly and written!

Additionally there are no power lines as far as the eye can see.

Even for my energy requirements i will have to use photovoltaics.
Fortunately energy and data communication issues are resolved right from the start.

Eventually i will also visit a local ham for advice on the mast, as soon as i reach one...

[edit on 18/1/2009 by GEORGETHEGREEK]

I would say get some lengths of 3" PVC Pipe, couplings, and glue from home depot or a plumbing supply store. Probably the cheapest way to do it.. and PVC is pretty durable... 100 feet is REALLY high by the way.

reply to post by autowrench


what is the extrusion method?

Leds for signaling on the top have already been ordered!

reply to post by defendant

I done know if you are planning on being able to personally access the equipment at the top, that is, to be able to climb this tower at any time, you would be dealing with real danger which the authorities might even interfere with for your safety. An attached ladder would be the only safe thing I know of.

Well, i shouldn t be needing access to the top except if there is a fault...
In any case although i don t fear normal heights, once i get higher than about 15-20m i get shaky!!! No way i climb up there or let anyone else for that matter.
If the damn thing stops operating i will have to take it down fix it and then re-erect it. Thus the pin at the bottom of the must as described earlier when expressing my design view.

So NO attached ladder....

However something just popped into my mind...

I will also have to take care of lightning....

reply to post by hikix

I would say get some lengths of 3" PVC Pipe, couplings, and glue from home depot or a plumbing supply store. Probably the cheapest way to do it.. and PVC is pretty durable... 100 feet is REALLY high by the way.

I don t know how it comes to be but PVC piping over here is considerably pricey...
Besides the temperatures in this area in the summer softens the material too much making it unusable for my project...

YES !!! 100ft is VERY high indeed...!!!...

I don't know why I'm getting involved in this because I know nothing of any of this! But, i think black waste line pipes (i think they are made of steel) or galvanized pipes would be good. The problem is that they are heavy. With the pvc i figured you could assemble it on the ground and then get a few people to just raise it up.