Years ago, I was looking for a vent pipe mount for a small 2 meter yagi that I wanted to mount on a small TV rotator. Not finding anything in the stores, I stumbled on conduit hangers, which allow you to bolt together different diameter conduit together. I used two sets of these hangers, plus a large U bold around both masts in the middle for insurance. Fast forward from the 2 meter yagi, I took it down and put up an M2 6M 3 element yagi on the same mount. I used this arrangement for years with a 6' mast with no problem, even surviving Santa Ana winds in SoCal up to 60 mph.
At some point, I put a W6LVP active receive loop on top of the yagi. The small coax loop weighs nothing, so this worked very well. Fast forward to last week when SoCal experienced the worst Santa Ana wind event I can ever remember. We had gusts measured at 93 MPH in my neighborhood! The conduit hangers didn't survive, twisted in the wind and the yagi came down.
So a warning for others who may try this type of mounting arrangement: Keep the antennas small and it will work fine in moderate winds. Don't try this for anything larger than about a 2m 4 element antenna and don't do it if you live in an area subject to severe winds; it won't survive.
At some point, I put a W6LVP active receive loop on top of the yagi. The small coax loop weighs nothing, so this worked very well. Fast forward to last week when SoCal experienced the worst Santa Ana wind event I can ever remember. We had gusts measured at 93 MPH in my neighborhood! The conduit hangers didn't survive, twisted in the wind and the yagi came down.
So a warning for others who may try this type of mounting arrangement: Keep the antennas small and it will work fine in moderate winds. Don't try this for anything larger than about a 2m 4 element antenna and don't do it if you live in an area subject to severe winds; it won't survive.
I usually scrap the factory mounting plate and make my own. If it came with 1/4 inch hardware, I switch to 5/16. If it uses 5/16 hardware, I switch to 3/8 as well as make the mounting plate thicker. I have used 1/2 inch aluminum plate just to mount a three element tribander because I knew what kind of beating it was going to take. The antenna eventually was beaten to death in a wind and ice storm, actually breaking the fibreglass insulator in the driven element centre. The sorry mess however stayed on the tower due to the heavy mounting plate.
