Adding a section to a TV antenna mast

double mast pipe clamp

Good call. With some threaded rod and some regular clamps a person can rig his own. John T.

What are your gutters made of? How about a hole through the gutter, patched with something to be discussed next?

Actually not a bad thought, but the mast has already been cut and needs another piece spliced on anyway. I didn't know about those double mast clamps, that's a genius idea if they aren't too expensive.

Thanks for that, you gave me the proper name. I'm looking for a pipe standoff.

Cutting into the gutter to run a pole through is the worst idea ever. Period. Don't even think of it. It will look-like-crap - forever - .. long after your antenae experiment is defunct, neighbours and passers-by will look at your house and say : " What idiot did that ! ? Did Micky live here ? " It will restrict the flow and clog with debris. John T.

However you do it, the added weight and force of blowing wind from a mast that will be 6' longer might require sturdier support (guy wires?) to keep the antenna elements stable and the entire mast upright. Also, you need to prevent the existing supporting hardware from bending or pulling out of wherever it's attached to.

The coax probably weighs more than the antenna :

Good thoughts. I don't think I have that problem though.

I just measured. The existing mast extends from the dirt to just short of the gutters, 10 feet. Originally there was another 10 feet or so of mast that was cut off, and it held a standard yagi tv antenna. The mast is attached to the house with a metal bracket, about 4 inches by 3/8 inch by 2 feet, anchored into the soffit. This looks pretty solid.

It had to be cut off because we went to a larger gutter size to get more flow. We also upsized the downspouts from 2x3 to 3x4, and added two at 4x5. There were three antennas, two of which were completely removed, and this one where we had them leave the mast thinking I might someday add FM or OTA to that section of the basement. The antenna elements of course had long ago been trashed by falling branches and windstorms. We have cable but not at that end of the house and I like local news with my coffee in the morning.

I have a small digital tv antenna, probably this model:

And no, I never considered going through the gutter, though I've certainly seen it done.

Wow. Do you live in Seattle?

LOL

No but we have a basement. I want to move the water away from the house as fast as possible. East Coast gets a lot of rain.

Also, we're surrounded by oak trees and it's impossible to keep them completely clean all the time. Larger gutters and especially downspouts gives some safety factor.

On average it rains about 150 days a year in Seattle, but the amount of rain isn't much. Q: How much rainfall does Seattle get each year? A: On average, Seattle gets about 37 inches of rain each year.

The average annual rainfall for Boston is 43.76 inches

The city of Tampa has about 51 inches of annual rain, which is higher than the United States average of 38 inches per year.

I added Tampa, about 35 miles north of he for comparison. In this area rain time is short but hard. My weather station has shown it at 5" per hour but it is brief time. Usually 2 or 3 per hour but lasts 15 minutes.

I don't muss the all day drizzles we sometime had up north.

Maybe I know this before, but clearly I needed to be reminded.

Yes, me too, various places in the northeast. It's amazing how hard it can rain.

I've had that happen here. There was a good place to pull over, but when I got there the rain stopped.

I knew where I was, in front of the high school in a familiar town.

I remember a story I read that started with "will it ever stop raining?".

Reminds me of Mark Twain.

It was one of those rainy days, raining in the morning, still raining when they came out of church. A woman asked, Do you think it will stop?

And Twain said, It always has.

So the story goes.