Add a little more height to your antenna easily

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Here’s the situation. You have a 50-year-old house with a 50-year-old antenna on the roof. The antenna is getting unsightly and it’s not doing its best work, so it’s time to replace it. Only thing is, it’s strapped to the chimney. The chimney strap is solid. In fact it’s so solid that you can’t even adjust it or remove it.

This creates a problem because you would really like a bit more height. Let’s say you want to get some more distant signals, or the trees in the neighborhood have grown up some in the last 50 years. Or maybe you want to put your cell booster antenna up there and you don’t have the required 15 feet of vertical separation. The mast that’s on there is too short and you can’t get it off without risking damage to the chimney.

Here’s your perfect solution

I recently ran across this little mast clamp from Easy Up. It couldn’t be simpler. Clamp one side to the existing mast and one side to a new mast. This will let you put your equipment up even higher than you could before. You can use multiple clamps to make the fit nice and secure if you want.

Using this method and a mast from Solid Signal or even a fencepost you get locally, it’s simple to get that height you need. And remember the biggest enemy of good reception is the trees around your house. Putting that antenna up nice and high will let you get channels you never knew you could, or get better cell reception than you ever thought possible.

Just don’t go too far

This clamp isn’t a replacement for a proper tower setup. I wouldn’t use it to clamp three masts together or to attach a 15-foot mast to another 15-foot mast. You will have to use some common sense to put something together that won’t fall over. There isn’t really a set of guidelines here, because every situation is different. Be careful with what you do here and you’ll find that this clamp can help you. Overuse it, and you’ll end up with your antenna falling 25 feet from the sky onto your brand new car.

If this clamp doesn’t cut it…

You have other options. You can add a guyed mast or even a standalone tower. You’ll want to talk to an expert, and luckily you’ll find a tower specialist at the ready when you call Solid Signal. You may not have ever thought of yourself as the kind of person who needs a tower. Still, if you’re talking about serious cord-cutting, it could be the right choice. In the next few years, as “fixed wireless” internet takes over from wired connections, you’ll benefit even more from having an antenna position high above the trees. And let’s be honest, having the best and fastest internet is truly where it’s at.

Give a call to the experts at 888-233-7563 or browse the great selection at SolidSignal.com, and you’ll find that you have options, like this little clamp, that you never knew existed.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.