Radio Shack Heavy-duty Antenna Mast

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"I've owned a few of the Radio Shack masts over the years, both the 10' and 5' varieties. (If I recall correctly the 10' mast is not actually a full 10' long, but that's splitting hairs.) I've also owned many "hardware store" antenna masts, usually beige in color with a "seam" down the side which actually weakens the mast. The Radio Shack is significantly thicker, has a far superior paint job on it (almost like a powder coat), and no "seam". Used in conjunction with the 3' Radio Shack antenna mast, properly installed on the roof (with blocking material on the underside of the roof in the attic to spread the stress of the tripod out over several rafters), this mast makes a great medium-duty antenna support.



I currently have one of the 10' Radio Shack masts installed on my garage roof to support the end of a full-size 75M dipole (130' total length). The mast is holding up just fine with just a slight bend due to the pressure of holding one of the 65' wire legs tight. The mast is probably almost 10 years old with just minor rust where I cut through the electrical tape holding my feedline in place and the blade went too deep and through the paint on the mast.



A really nice feature of the Radio Shack masts is they are "keyed" so you can put more than one section together. This makes a great solution for a campground antenna (and be sure to GUY the assembly). The best feature of this mast is they are available locally! If you're looking to graduate to something a bit thicker and heavier duty, check out schedule 40 chain link fence rail, which is available in longer continuous lengths than the Radio Shack masts, but typically start out at 1 7/8" diameter which may be a problem for many tripods. Overall, this mast is a tremendous value for the quality received."

"This mast is being used to hold up a light rotatable dipole HF ham antenna and rotor. Very sturdy and heavy. Will definately buy more of these for future light antenna installs. Would not recommend for a heavy antenna. Good for light ham/cb stuff and TV antennas."

"I had to replace my sturdy telescoping mast after Hurricane Ike bent it. That thing was rock-steady in any (other than a hurricane) kind of weather. This thing was an engineered TV antenna complete with guy wire attachments and height adjustments.



I replaced my good mast with the "Heavy Duty Antenna Mast". It is just a piece of pipe with a nice finish. I stacked 3 peices together to make a 25 foot mast and put a small DB8 bowtie UHF antenna on top. Folks, this thing sways at the slightest breeze; it performs more like a piece of PVC than a "Heavy Duty Antenna Mast". I live in SE Texas where a normal thunderstorm produces 40 MPH winds; I can't wait to see what happens! I am not optimistic.

I do love my new antenna though; I get gorgeous reception."

"I've had a couple of the 5 foot sections, and a 10 foot section for several years used it different capacities from mounting antennas on the roof to flag poles. The 10 foot section was mounted with the old radioshack vent-pipe mount for years and held up just fine while the mount it was on bent over in the wind. Still have the section 10 years later and am putting it up on the roof of the new house today with a D-130J antenna."

"The store sold this mast to support a gable mount from radio shack also, attached to their 12' antennae. Last night during a wind storm this mast actuall bent over more than 90 degrees, what a jooke, [...], do not buy this unit."

"Increased range of HD/DT reception by raising antenna height. The Best TV is once again over antennas! Since the cable and satellite company's signal is compressed, it shows up as archiving on your 1080 HDTV. Get the signal direcct from the station, much better picture."

"I tried standing up 3 sections of this mast with a large Radio Shsck VHF/UFH antenna mounted on it. The pole collapsed at the 20 ft. joint under the weight of the antenna. The anrenna weight was about 12 lbs. If these poles cannot hold up the weight of a tv antenna then they are absolutely useless....Look elsewhere for a better product like the hardware store for galvanized pipe."

"We purchased a 10' pole from the Cookeville TN Radio Shack on 2/5/09. We installed it onto our brick house on 2/6/09. On 2/11/09 we had showers and some wind gusts. The mounts twisted and ripped out of the brick and the 10' pole bent into a U shape. [...]"

"This is some of the best and strongest mast material I've ever used. I use it to hold a 23 ft. veterical antenna on the house and I use 2 sections ot hold 3 large flags when tailgating at the races. 3 years of the best winds Kansas has to offer and still strait! Great stuff!"