Topic: mast mount for easy cleaning?

[kbellis]

Wow. Hope it also saved not just your house, but all of your electronic stuff inside from computers to phones to washing machine motors.

Assume you've seen this: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/65825/does-a-lightning-rod-prevent-lightning-strikes - one of the interesting aspects from an earlier thread.

[kbellis]

The mast mount for easy cleaning that I've come up with for my first test site is a tilting 10' tall mast fastened with (3) 3/8" x 5.5" bolts to a pressure treated wooden assembly set in 12" diameter concrete foundation in a 40" deep hole.

The photos from last month shown above as A work in progress were taken the day of the concrete pour.

Since then, and until I unwrap my wife's Christmas gift, I've had some other things atop of the mast on several different occasions including a couple of cameras and GNSS equipment - see video for time lapse! The utility of raising and lowering the mast has worked well and the pair of old sash weights have been easily adjusted to accommodate the varying payloads on the other end while being rigged. Once the WS-2902A has been connected, I'll probably go with a fixed counter weight placed inside of the metal pipe.

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[danoh]

This is how I did mine, crudely, a tilting base on a bolt.  Costs like $5 for hardware vs the $80 for a "real" one.  I have 2 10' sections of 1-1/2" rigid metal conduit, and it supports that weight fine. That's a 16' 4x6 post, so you can see from the first RMC joint how deep it is in concrete. Not guyed and doesn't shake an inch during 40+mph winds. Very sturdy.  I've since cut off the L brackets so they don't stick out as far.

Tip: If you orient your post so you have a face pointing North, it makes alignment pretty easy.

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[kbellis]

Nice photos, Dan. Thanks for posting.

Are the two sections of tube welded together with a coupling; can't really tell from the photo.

Your installation looks fresh. Have you had to lower the mast and clear the snow off of the sensor array yet?

Yesterday's snow event changed to rain and even though the radio antenna was largely covered, I still had 5 bars indicated for the signal strength, so I didn't need to clear off the snow before it melted throughout the day.

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[danoh]

Not welded, RMC has threaded couplings.

No snow here. Thank you South.

It's easy to lower and raise though.

[dsscheibe]

@dsscheibe - Whatever CRS is, I think I'm too old to be climbing onto the roof, Rohn masts, or even a ladder every 3 months to check/ clean the rain gauge tipping bucket; moreover, clearing off the snow and ice from the rest of it during our Maine winters.

CRS  can't remember shit..  I did get up there and remove the Bloomsky junk and sent it back.  The Sky 1 died and two Sky 2's would not stay connected to the internet even tough my phone has full wifi bars on the roof.  They would not connect in my office with the router..  Of course I had bought a Storm to go with the Sky1 and the sky 1 died a week later..  Only my anemometer is on the pole, I settled with spraying it with the hose and seems to have loosened up the cups.    The rain gauge, solar, temp package is on a mount about 5 feet off the ground. I had the mount for a dish when I was between houses and living in an apartment. It was perfect for the station, just had to level the ground, not as easy as it sounds with clay soil. Ran the wiring in 1/2" conduit as I have a dog who digs up pvc or any other plastic..

[kbellis]

CRS, I later would recall.