
I live in the high desert of SW Wyoming. Trees are definitely lacking. I’ve been looking for some sort of lightweight mast. I got turned onto these carbon fiber telescopic fishing poles. They have no eyes on them. At the end of the pole is just a short piece of line to tie fishing line to.
It took the smallest 3 sections out of this pole. They are just too small and flimsy. The 4th section was just right to run some paracord through. I pulled the 4th section out from the bottom and ran the cord through it. I tied a knot on the both ends of that section. On the small end of that section after the knot I left about 6 inches of paracord free. That is what I used to tie the antenna center to. I then put that section back into the pole.



I also painted the pole FDE.

I needed some way to hold the mast up so I forged a ground spike.


The spike worked ok but not as good as I was hoping.




I ended up forging a second ground stake which worked much better.
I haven’t taken this into the field yet but I think it will work well judging by my backyard testing. The second ground stake is a bit too big to be packing around on a pack I think. I might need to cut the size down some and maybe smaller than 3/8 inch steel. We will see.




Very Clever ! Just an idea for ground spike , I wonder if a piece of pipe weld to a short piece of 1/4 ” flat stock with the ground spike coming off the opposite end wound work , if the carbon rod spinning is or becomes an issue ,you could then drill a hole in the pipe and install a set screw to prevent the Rod from spinning . Or maybe I am over engineering !
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That looks better than what I’m using. I’ll give it a try.
For a stake, try a piece of 3/4” aluminum angle, sharpened on the end you stick in the ground. Hold the pole on with a couple of stainless hose clamps or heavy duty zip ties.
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That would probably work better than what I did. But I do enjoy forging shit. Lol
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Wyoming
What forge set up do you have? Is there a post in it?
One of my 11 year old boys is pestering me to death about getting a forge and making things. I am not a metal worker of any skill. I can barely stick things together with a buzz box. Willing to learn along with my son.
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I use a propane forge. I cannot remember the brand.
https://wyomingsurvival.org/2021/07/25/blacksmithing-for-beginners/
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Also I posted a bunch of Blacksmithing PDF last year. They will definitely get you started.
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