{"id":3383,"date":"2019-03-31T18:54:28","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T17:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/?p=3383"},"modified":"2025-07-19T18:02:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T17:02:31","slug":"longwire-supporting-tube-replacement-with-grp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/longwire-supporting-tube-replacement-with-grp\/","title":{"rendered":"Longwire supporting steel tube replacement with GRP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_3595-e1554050974952-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"pole\" class=\"wp-image-3384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_3595-e1554050974952-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_3595-e1554050974952-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption>New RED GRP tube delivered next day from Engineering Composites Ltd.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Link to previous blog on the longwire installation: <a href=\"\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/pt-3-longwire-installation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"HERE (opens in a new tab)\">HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The existing steel tube is outside of my physical strength to bring down from the vertical and put back up again, I was very reliant on a local scaffolder to do this for me, for which I was ever grateful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My intention has always been to replace the galvanised steel 6m scaffold tube supporting my longwire with a lightweight Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) composite version, the two main reasons are maintainability and performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Performance is related to the effect on the antennas radiation pattern by the influence of the steel tube, use of a non conducting supporting tube will remove this effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 6m tube in RED was bought from <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Engineered Composites Ltd  (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"\/\/www.engineered-composites.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Engineered Composites Ltd <\/a>of Chester, the total cost including VAT and UK Delivery was \u00a3130.54.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"212\" src=\"\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/grp-scaffold-tubes.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3386\"\/><figcaption>Product Code TU627IR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The GRP scaffold tube is only available from Engineering Composites in 6m lengths and in either <a href=\"https:\/\/engineered-composites.co.uk\/grp-scaffold-tubes\/\">Red or Yellow<\/a>, I choose red as it was going to painted light grey anyway and red is way cooler than yellow, didn&#8217;t want the neighbours to think I&#8217;d installed a Gas vent pipe :-).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_3594-e1554054095915-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"red pole\" class=\"wp-image-3387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_3594-e1554054095915-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_3594-e1554054095915-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I used <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" label=\"Ultra Grip Primer (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dulux.co.uk\/en\/products\/dulux-primer-difficult-surfaces?t=Primer\" target=\"_blank\">Ultra Grip Primer<\/a> before applying the top coat, and it seems ok, time will tell how effective it has been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_3625-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"pole up\" class=\"wp-image-3390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_3625-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_3625-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>GRP tube installed without any assistance as its 75% lighter than its steel equivalent, I noticed that the tube has a greater deflection that the steel version which is only to be expected, the highest wind the steel tube had to cope with was a gust of 62mph, so it will be interesting to see how this copes with wind!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Link to previous blog on the longwire installation: HERE The existing steel tube is outside of my physical strength to bring down from the vertical and put back up again, I was very reliant on a local scaffolder to do this for me, for which I was ever grateful. My intention has always been to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chatteris.biz\/blog\/longwire-supporting-tube-replacement-with-grp\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Longwire supporting steel tube replacement with GRP<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[271,269,270],"class_list":["post-3383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-radio-ham","tag-composite-pole","tag-grp","tag-longwire"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Longwire supporting steel tube replacement with GRP - 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