I'm about to go though my first winter with a 10 foot pole, which replaced a 5 foot pole.
The five foot pole was short so there was less sway in the wind.
Come spring I may elect to shore up the mast with a guy wire system consisting of vinyl coated cable and turnbuckles for tensioning.
http://www.cableandwireshop.com/adju...enna_mast.html
http://www.cableandwireshop.com/turn...enna_mast.html
My question is, why are not stiff steel rods used in lieu of cables?
Cables are good only in tension, but rods would offer some compression strength when it comes to pushing and pulling in the wind.
There would be an increased danger of the rods fracturing/exploding under extreme conditions, but I suspect they would bend far before that would happen.
Wires don't get bent out of shape, but rods do?
Could that be the reason?
Perhaps there is a 3D loading reason which escapes me.
I'm coming from the perspective that in the lower cord of a truss, rods are favored over cables. This is because in theory the lower cord is only in pure tension, but in reality/practice there is a tiny bit of compression which must be addressed.
http://atimber.com/truss-ceiling-systems/
http://www.vermonttimberworks.com/ou...steel-tie-rod/
I may sketch up the two systems and post them, the devil may be in the details and the hardware available off the shelf.
EDIT:
It struck me that a tripod mounting is essentially similar to rigid tie rods in a fixed position.
And like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Master.../dp/B000BSKOXE
