North America source for 10m fiberglass mast?

Went into the sporting goods store to find a fiberglass mast and they looked at me a little funny for asking about them. I guess most of the fishing here is salmon river fishing. Pretty much nothing in stock that would work.

So, anyone know where I can find a wonderful 10m fiberglass mask like the SotaBeams one? The longest I can find on Amazon is 6m which seems a tad short for a 40m EFHW.

I have this one. It’s 20’, so a bit shorter than you were looking for, but I love it. Quite light, collapses down to a reasonable size for strapping to the outside of my pack. The top is quite whippy when fully extended, but it still holds my antenna a good 18’ up, which is plenty for a sloper.

Separately, I’m still trying to get my EFHW antenna tuned, so I haven’t actually made any HF contacts with this mast, but it’s worked great for setup a number of times, and I’ve carried it all over. Highly recommended.

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Yeah, that’s the exact one that I was looking at. My only concern is that with a 40m EFHW I won’t get enough height to make it effective.

Here’s a domestic source: http://shop.packtenna.com

I’ve also bought them from Sotabeams, they’ll ship to the US.

I’m a little confused about using a 10m mast for an 40m EFHW. It will work for a 20m EFHW, however for 40m it’s lambda/4 so you use a some form of counterpoise. I’ve used this set-up for many activations and really like it. The ATU on my KX3 allows me to tune 15m where it’s a 5/8 lambda ground plane antenna. Very nice for DX when the propagation allows.

Cheers,
Kevin

Awesome, thanks!

Yeah, my thoughts were using it as a sloper with ~15ft counterpoise which is pretty similar to what I have setup at home. My home antenna was originally 15’ off the ground and didn’t do too great so I figured I need at least 25’ to get something reasonable for portable use.

Try HRO, they sell MFJ telescopic poles of varying height and sturdiness. The MFJ-1910 is 33 feet - and very thin at the top so it will flex a fair amount. I have one and removed the top section so it’s about 30 feet, way less flex and when using a 20 meter half-wave it is fine - okay if he wire has a slight slope from moving the feedpoint away from the pole. Jackite also makes telescopic fiberglass poles, similar pricing to the MFJ but they have models with a thicker tip that are better for use with/as antennas.

Hmm, interesting although the MFJ one looks pretty long at 3.75ft collapsed.

I’ll definitely give it a look though, here I was thinking that there was only 20ft poles out there and the sota community comes through :slight_smile: .

I’ve picked up Shakespeare Durango Panfish Poles - 13 footers - for dirt cheap at Wally World, AKA WalMart for $9.00 - or less when on sale - and they work perfect. It only collapsed down to 3’ 10’’ though, but I’ve never had a problem using them for my EFHW or endfed wire. I also have an 18’ that I’ve taken the top last section off of to make it about 15 or so feet and it works perfectly as well. You don’t need all that much height on a peak. I’ve made lots of Q’s just using my hiking pole to keep the EFHW off of the ground and/or little bushes for that matter :wink: Later, Todd KH2TJ

I dont know… this may be a good thing. It turns into a NVIS type antenna. On 40 I am trying to get the close in stations, without the need for 80M. When I was a trainer in the Military, we would actually lay the antenna on the ground. I dont think we are trying to use 40 for long haul, but the close in stations. 30 and up may be a different story.

Kent K9EZ

I’ve purchased several from SOTABeams, the shipment to Arizona wasn’t expensive and only took about 5 days. They also carry some good accessories for example lightweight custom guy line rings that fit the mast perfectly.

Keith KR7RK

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I got a 20’ Shakespeare Wonderpole from Walmart, and have had no problems with it. It seems to get my doublet up high enough on 40, and even 60.
Being on a summit definitely helps the antenna, whatever the pole height is.

Try Jackite:
https://www.jackite.com/online-store/Windsock-Flying-Poles-c21767998
I’ve got the 28 footer,never had any problem.

73
Eric
VA2MO.

I have the Jackite too. I have the taller one and it works very well. Got it off Amazon, if I recall correctly.

-Bruce WB8OGK

A second vote for Packtenna. Most likely in stock in California, they were quick and easy to deal with.

KG7VLX

Chris

I have the MFJ pole and rarely use it. The Sota beams travel mast is great. It just weighs quite a bit more than the other poles I like to hike with. Putting in SOTA miles, you will feel the difference. Hi Hi.
My go to pole now is about 18 ft. Bought from Amazon. Also have 2 other light weight poles I got from ebay. Think those are about 15 ft. They all work great.
I still use my travel mast once in a while but the smaller, lighter poles are wonderful for hiking when u have other stuff in your pack. Especially in the winter during snow shoe activations.

Roland K7FOP