Has anyone a solution for jammed elements on a mast? It’s a Sotabeams tactical 7000 hds if that’s relevant. I’ve tried two people twisting and some hot water on the outer section but this appears jammed tight. I’m a bit wary of clamping it in a bench vice and tapping the edge
All suggestions welcome.
Hi Colm,
You can try the following -
Unscrew the bottom off the mast
Remove all sections that are inside the two jammed sections
Take any sections that are outside the jammed sections upwards and off the top
Now you should have just the two jammed sections and I venture that one is cracked and has got itself part inside and part outside of the other section. You may be able to see now, which section has to go which way to loosen the sections from each other. Alternatively, some shards of broken fibreglass may be jammed between the two sections.
BE VERY VERY VERY CAREFUL - Fibreglass shards are like thin needles that once in your finger are a devil to get out!
73 Ed.
Hi Ed, I have it dismantled and am working with just the two offending sections. It’s not split as you described, just jammed tight.
Thanks
I had the same with my Decathlon mast, I ended up have to give a sharp tap with a block of wood to free it off.
A sharp tap with a block of wood. Definitely don’t put in a vice. It will crush very easily.
Try washing up liquid with warm water to help lubricate it first.
Thanks Fraser, that did the trick. Some white deal top and bottom and increasingly harder taps with a lump hammer. Took quite a few solid hits, with increasing trepidation between blows !
No apparent damage thankfully.
Colm.
Excellent Colm! At least you weren’t trying to do it on an icy summit. 
Well done Colm,
Hopefully, it won’t happen again. It’s a fine balance between being a good fit so that it doesn’t collapse while in use and so tight that you can’t telescope it back down.
73 Ed.
Tapping with a block of wood (and a mallet plus block of wood) didn’t sort mine.
Soaking in a bath of warm water loosened it up sufficiently so a tap with a mallet popped it free.
Few thoughts.
David, A few new terms for me in that one! Excuse my ignorance.
put on.
An element higher up the mast is larger in diameter than the next lower one. So, in building the mast you “put” the higher elements onto the lower ones, not as a telescope
UTS, my apologies:
Ultimate Tensile Strength
“Is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking”. As per Wikipedia
Happened to me with the same type of mast last summer, and was freed eventually with some very gentle persuasion with a rubber mallet. (I didn’t have any wood available). The good news - no damage to the mast and it hasn’t happened since. Not sure if it was caused by mud grime on the mast from the previous activation. 73. Paul
I don’t carry a lump hammer in the rucksack. It’s heavy enough already 
There is something to be said for a full dis-assembly and wipe down after a wet or wintry activation. When I did the GM5WS thing last winter, I had three masts up in spindrift for an hour or so. I only broke two of them on break down! It was due to previous water ingress freezing the joints.
Baofeng? 
I often find on summit that two adjoining sections don’t want to unlock and if my repeated attempts to unlock them doesn’t work, I tap the bottom of the pole on a rock which does the trick for me.
Once home - except in the driest of weather - I extend the pole fully in a large warm room and leave overnight. Moisture between the sections doesn’t help. I also do this with my radio and other gear after a wet / damp activation.
With seriously sticky pole sections problems I wash each section in warm soapy water, dry thoroughly and leave to dry overnight before reassembling the pole.
No anvil either. Very poor.
Applying a warm liquid can help free frozen joints (masts not limbs). I always have some with me in case of jelly fish stings 
Not the first time I’ve heard of that technique. With three masts that day, it would have been taking the piss though.
