Talk:Radio masts and towers

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This is a merged and tidied up replacement for transmission tower and radio mast.

I've split some content, that seems less relevant in an 'overview' piece like this one, into two other pages: mast radiator and radio masts and towers - catastrophic collapses.Spliced 17:40, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Wooden Towers in the UK

Where did in the UK radio towers built of wood exist? When were they built, which was there use (MF-broadcasting, NDB, etc.?) and when were they demolished? Check therefore also http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=6123287#post6123287

[edit] Copyright

The beginning of this page seems to have been copied directly, except for my edit, from answers.commeccaneer 23:08, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

• It's the other way round: answers.com copies from wikipedia, as the GFDL permits, and as the answers.com page acknowledges. Harumphy 06:30, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mast or tower?

I've reverted a contribution under this heading which seemed very odd. Apparently in the US there is a difference in the terminology used by structural and broadcast engineers. In the UK there is no such difference - both use mast and tower the same way - although, as explained, colloquial British usage is to call all such structures masts. Let's discuss any refinements here please, before changing this part of the article, which seems to have been stable for some time now. Harumphy 12:08, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

It is quite clear that the structures described here are universally called "towers" in the U.S. broadcasting industry, including by the FCC. I have seen the term "mast" is used to describe two kinds of structures:

1. Antenna-support structures constructed on top of some other structure; e.g., a pole on the roof of a building to which an FM, TV, or auxiliary antenna is attached. (This usage is not universal, with some writers using "tower" for these structures as well [1], but the exception seems to be restricted to masts of significant size—no one would call the five-foot pole their STL antenna is mounted on a "tower".)
2. Telescoping antenna-support structures which form part of a vehicle for remote program origination (i.e., a remote truck).

The term "mast" is never used for a vertical radiator, regardless of construction—even when on a rooftop, it will be called a "tower" or more typically an "antenna". Unfortunately, I don't have the time to develop reliable sources on this subject (although I don't doubt that any radio engineer would confirm it). (I had hoped that my edit would prove uncontroversial.) One source editors might consider is this installment of Tower Site of the Week, which explicitly describes the structure atop Four Times Square as a "mast".

I can't speak for the terminology used by civil engineers in the U.S. but the fact that this article (and many others like it, including List of masts and mast radiator) has continued to use this terminology suggests that there is some constituency for the distinction even if not among the broadcasters I am familiar with.

121a0012 02:05, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

OK. It's also the case in the UK that small antenna supports are called masts even if they are not guyed - e.g. a 5-foot pole, or a pump-up mast on a vehicle. Would it suffice to add a comment that these smaller supports are normally called masts rather than towers, on both sides of the pond? Harumphy 16:07, 12 October 2006 (UTC)