# Forum Home Renovation Television, Computers & Phones  New mast position for the TV antenna Help please

## Moondog55

Norlane area; Geelong and we have a clear view of Mt Dandenong[ if the transmitters are still there] and I want to reuse the mast we have already. I have just been and bought a ridgemount plate and a whole heap of wire etc for the staying but before I go and start work I thought I'd better check up on the best way to tackle this.
Current mast is 3000 * 38mm thick walled galvanised steel tube with a 1200*25*3mm stainless steel extension added.
I'm wondering if 4m is just a tad on the tall side.
As I am working solo on this I'd appreciate suggestions too on the safest way to erect the pole and hold it in place while I secure the guy wires .
I have made an assumption that I need double stay wires; top of the 38 and again half way down. 
No great hurry so long as it's finished before the week-end of the grand final.
As soon as its moved I demolish the chimney and we start work on that wall.

----------


## Moondog55

Also while at the moment we only have the one television I am sure we'll acquire anther one or three as the years go by, what is our best option here>??
Run the cable down into the roof space and use a splitter or get a good quality signal amplifier, if we use a signal amplifier what is the best way to do this? Masthead or in the roof space?.
Sitting here waiting for the cordless drills to recharge; they all ran out at the same time and one of the Bosch batteries no longer holds a charge.

----------


## David.Elliott

Ours is a bit over 6000 to the tip. As you say heavy gauge galv pipe...
We have an amp, in the roof is def the go, no weather, no breakdown, no filling with water like the neighbours, and ours is mains powered...from there we have a 4 way splitter, although we only use two at this time.
The wire stays are 2/3rd the way up, connected by turnbuckles to eye bolts through the tiles and siliconed. There is a clamped on plate at the connection point on the mast that the stay wires are connected to, with three loops, one on each of three sides to tie the stay wire into... 
One thing the installer did wrong was to run the aerial wire OVER our valley irons which is where one leaf, then three, then 23, then enough to block the valley, then rain indoors happens, unless I keep an eye on it several times a year. Note to self, rerun that wire... 
Our guy roughly measured and made 2 wire connections complete to the pole from the roof, and had a third wire connected to the pole in his hand. Then he stood on the ridge plate, pulled on the wire in his hand until the other two were tautish (preventing it falling over was all he was looking for) and the pole upright, and connected up the last one. From there he tweaked until all three were tight with the pole plumb...obviously he has had practice, I would encourage to to find another pair of hands from somewhere. I took mine down a while ago, and re-erecting was easy as the stays were just right.

----------


## Uncle Bob

> we have a clear view of Mt Dandenong

  If you have line of sight lower down then mounting then a 3 metre pole may not be necessary.

----------


## Armers

if its clear LOS then a decent high gain antenna on a 1.8  tile mount onthe top of you roof will be fine... Use the my switch app on your phone or website for positioning. You should only need a mast when and if you need to get up over something. ie a big hill. 
I suggest take down the mast and try a 1.8 meter rafter mount (if tiled) or a tin mount towards the top of your roof.  
You tried to pick up the geelong tower? 
As for tvs down the track when and if you need an amp depends on the signal levels your getting in the first place. Then it all comes down to maths  :Biggrin:  
Cheers

----------


## Moondog55

We have a local relay tower??
First I heard, all our antennas point towards Mt D Most of the houses here now have tall masts so I thought it was needed for digital

----------


## Armers

Just depends on where you are located in the G... use the myswitch website to help you. As i said there is an app too! I use it when i work out my normal area just to double check the bearings. Its only been in rare situations i've had to use a mast, but then again i am working on the eastern side where i can almost count the rivets on the towers. 
If the mast is already up (existing) try the antenna half way up to see if that works. If so then go get yourself a rafter mount.  
Cheers

----------


## Moondog55

I just checked on that mySwitch website
Funny I did not know it existed.
We are in a relatively weak area for both towers apparently, pale green on the map. LOS to Mt D is only when I am on top of the roof. The signal improved when I put the extra height onto the existing chimney mount so I think I am going to use the mast I already have. Rerouteing the lightning ground conductors will be the biggest PITA.
And of course today it is drizzling and the roof is as slick as greased goose s**t

----------


## Moondog55

Mast positioned in center of ridge line, 4 wire guys done up tight and all new quad shielded cable and we have TV again. There is an art to working with wire and I don't have it so it took me damned near all day to fix it 
We bought a replacement antenna but I think it was mainly a cabling issue due to the minimal shielding on the old Co-ax

----------


## Moondog55

So here's something I never thought of, we have dozens of meters of Co-Axial cable here and now none of it any use because of the shielding issue, any ideas ( apart from using it to hog-tie politicians) as to it's possible future use. I already have more than enough long RCA connectors so no use to me there.
Is it time to recycle the stuff??

----------


## Armers

Take it to scrap... Something for nothing is better then nothing  
Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk 4

----------


## Moondog55

Took it all to E-Waste at the local tip. No charge for that although I do worry that in China they will burn the stuff to extract the gold/copper/tin and aluminium

----------

