I am considering buying a lightweight antenna mast for my 1 watt radio. I will mount the UHF Antenna 450-470 mH, 5/8, 5dB gain with a UHF Antenna Ground Plane Disk on this mast.
What type would you recommend that would be lightweight and would extend in sections? Also some brackets for staking to ground would be useful. If you have something similar please post some pictures.
Hi Robert,
Is
this the antenna that you purchased ?
If I'm correctly reading the
datasheet, this antenna isn't intended for use with the HPT401BT radio. How did you decide upon that antenna? I'm afraid I don't know enough to give you further guidance and have asked my friend Vladimir Zhukov for more insights into this area:
General Guidelines for Choosing Antennas for UHF Radios
When using the 450-470 MHz 5 dB gain [30-587305-01] you'll also need some type of mount, and assume for now it would be the pole mount; [14-578117-06 REV.1] which also allows for an assembly with the ground plane disk [10-578400-01], but again, as far as I understand, 1 watt radios don't require this.
As for your mast needs, whether you recycle some surveying equipment you already have on hand or make a new purchase, knowing how much surface area/ weight you'll have at the top of that upper most section should be considered when you think about guying requirements and wind. Personally, and in most situations, 2 to 3 meters is my height range while using repurposed fixed-height GPS rods in 1-meter sections. I like to stab the mast foot solidly into the ground and use the GPS tripod to roughly plumb up the mast and when necessary because of wind, weight down the tripod feet. Anything higher really ought to be guyed. SECO is an awesome manufacturer and studying
their products and can give you a bunch of ideas to think about. Of course, you can't buy from them directly, but at least you can get the correct part number when ordering from whomever; e.g., Allen Precision, etc.
In my guy kit, there's (3) screw-in-the-ground tie-downs, a recycled tripod head assembly [SECO 5218-057], (3) carabiners with 3/16" braided nylon x 33'.