Fleabay - antenna mast

[Hair Bear]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296149895441?hash=item44f3e8c911:g:Sf8AAOSw1I9lmWTw&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4MT9B%2BnjtGwuseABNiVmVtJBGLstOpCzwx9p7cOUy%2BP5ksglDGDFgBMRWFu1VFy39DAvLA0cGK7TyOiLX4BLjFgllyOiAMA%2F43L%2F0Gi99DavSvP84blmL0Ji%2FNpeIdQ%2BCF%2FkrW1Q%2FmIiV2ka%2F%2FYALaaC4eNkeaV4%2BGkv%2F0xWSh3mX26E35Hj1iQkGOh4JtKi%2BehJvBMFNO0%2BDzjuUl%2F7hThVLd4Ivfp62At4P4B80Ep6WjZQ8Yy8To58ob8o1cSv8%2F2I7Cr9PU4NI%2F3EWEmO%2BxIpU%2FImzcPeAuEW1kuUoE8w|tkp%3ABk9SR5ydhsWcYw

[fv1609]

I'm not sure that it is military, it looks like an early Hilomast before SMC took them over.

[fv1609]

HB is this your item or did you post it as a heads-up? It looks like a civilian 60ft Hilomast of the type that I had with a keyway that prevents the sections rotating. Although these could be secured with locking collars so constant air pressure is not necessary. It has the same almost hammered finish grey paint. It looks to have been buried in the earth for a while.

I bought mine about 45 years ago & with a dish pointing upwards signals at 10GHz were reflected horizontally by a mesh reflector 6ft x 4.5ft for tropospheric scatter experiments. This was in Hampshire, it was dismantled when I moved to Wiltshire, but never got erected again. It lay beside a hedge & gradually over the years it got enveloped into the ground never to be seen again. After I moved from there 8 years ago, I remembered how it must have disappeared from sight. I just wondered whether the seller's friend had acquired it somehow after the new owners had been digging in the garden!

It was a very sturdy thing & wish I still had it but even retracted it was quite tall & pretty heavy. I used to turn it with a propeller pitch motor mounted underneath , that was very powerful I think the gearing was 40,000:1

[Hair Bear]

Hi Clive, no not mine. Just thought it may be of interest.

[fv1609]

Yes it is of interest thanks, very nostalgic. It just seemed so curious that mine ended up being buried & it looks as if this one has been buried. I think the seller's enthusiasm has got the better of him because setting it in concrete won't allow it to be filled with air!

If it is not guyed it will sway or topple over. With mine despite the top of the lower section being clamped to the roof rafters there was a lot of sway if it was not guyed. I think the other problem is getting new seals as I don't think that this mast is compatible with the current range of spares for SMC made Hilomasts.