Telescoping pole? Where to get one?

[k8zfj]

yep, they do bend in the wind, but for short term portable ops, seems to work well

[KE5ZRT]

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

Well Sunsetter and at least one other company make telescoping flag poles. I prefer metal to fiberglass myself

http://www.sunsetterflagpole.com/ <- Metal poles

http://www.wonderpole.com/ <- Fiberglass poles

Read the documentation on the poles and you will understand why I like metal better

NOTE put Telescoping Flag Poles into Mr. Google's famous web site and.... A lot pop up

Thanks from the link...the sunsetters look nice. Rohn also makes a solid pushup pole: http://www.3starinc.com/rohn_telescopic_masts.html

[wa8yxm]

Depends on how long you want it and how strong you want it but telescoping poles are very common now days

On the strong, end are flagpoles... desighed to hold a flag aloft they can support quite a wind load. they come in both Fiberglass and metal.. Mine is 25' metal.

On the lighter end are painter poles.. Mine is 12 feet long and came from Home Depot (About 16 bucks as I recall) I have seen them up to 40 feet but this type of pole ABSOLUTLY must be guyed and I'm not sure how "Strong" the longer poles would be.

This is in addition to things like "Flagpole buddy" poles and such.

I got my flagpole (With drive on base) from Sunsetter. Other companies make them too

Another option I've seen (Two of them in fact) At a swap fest (Hazel Park (Michigan) ARC) one of the vendors had bags of fiberglass poles.. These too need guying but are very strong, Military in appearance.. A bag full of these fit-together sections might weigh 10 pounds. The Hazel Park ARC also has a portable tower, Again military but this is much much heavier. Again it should be guyed. But where the fiberglass poles might hold one end of a dipole or long wire (I use my painter's pole for one end of a long wire. I use the flag pole both for the flag, when needed, and one end of my "Short long wire" That is in fact what I"m using now. This is about 20 feet of stranded copper soldered to one end of a SLINKY, the other end is attached to the end of a rope, which is then attached (By a short 2nd rope) to the flag pole. Normally the other end of the rope would run to an extended ladder hanging on the back of the rig but right now I'm using the painter's pole cause... Well.. I need that ladder for today's activities (This week the name of my rig is POETIC,,, That way I can WAX Poetic, you see (Bad pun, I know). I'm about to head south for the winter and a fresh wax job is 1-2 MPG so it is worth the effort)

But the fact is telescoping poles. both Fiberglass and metal, are real easy to find.

OH, if you go with a painter's pole cut a wood triangle (1 x 12 will do) drill a hole just big enough that with effort and perhaps a few notches in the first half turn of thread you can screw it onto the painter's pole.. Drill hole at each corner of the triangle

One hole gets the end of the long wire

The other two..... Guy lines

Seal stain the wood (or paint it well) for weather protection.

[KE5ZRT]

I just found a link to the "Flagpole Buddy" mentioned above. It is pretty cool and will probably work well for the uhf/vhf beam and rotator I want to install...and only $120!!!!!

[WD8QBQ]

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

Well Sunsetter and at least one other company make telescoping flag poles. I prefer metal to fiberglass myself

http://www.sunsetterflagpole.com/ <- Metal poles

http://www.wonderpole.com/ <- Fiberglass poles

Read the documentation on the poles and you will understand why I like metal better

NOTE put Telescoping Flag Poles into Mr. Google's famous web site and.... A lot pop up

The wonderpole link is very good and look what I found on the bottom of the page and very easily overlooked.

http://www.wonderpole.com/wp640_630.html

Yes more costly, but 40' tall WOW

JIM

[wa8yxm]

Fiberglass poles tend to lean over some.. This may or may not be a problem for you.. I use an aluminum pole from Sunsetter, not nearly as flexible. This too can cause problems,, But it's got a decent wind load rating (FLAG pole after all)

I have seen, not telescoping but 'Stackable' poles at ham fests for pocket change.. these usually come in 8' sections and you can buy as many as you wish from the dealer, 16', 24' 32' 40' you do have to guy them less you use a weighted base (park on) they sell those too.