Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made structures. Masts are often named after the broadcasting organizations that originally built them or currently use them.
In the case of a mast radiator or radiating tower, the whole mast or tower is itself the transmitting antenna.
The terms "mast" and "tower" are often used interchangeably. However, in structural engineering terms, a tower is a self-supporting or cantilevered structure, while a mast is held up by stays or guys. Broadcast engineers in the UK use the same terminology. A mast is a ground-based or rooftop structure that supports antennas at a height where they can satisfactorily send or receive radio waves. Typical masts are of steel lattice or tubular steel construction. Masts themselves play no part in the transmission of mobile telecommunications.
Masts (to use the civil engineering terminology) tend to be cheaper to build but require an extended area surrounding them to accommodate the guy wires. Towers are more commonly used in cities where land is in short supply.
(NB: the terminology used in the United States is opposite that used in Europe - in the US, structures called masts are typically relatively small, un-guyed structures, while larger structures, guyed or un-guyed, are referred to as towers. The US Federal Communications Commission, for example, uses "tower" to describe such structures as radio and television transmission towers, whether guyed or unguyed.
There are a few borderline designs that are partly free-standing and partly guyed, called additionally guyed towers. For example:
The Gerbrandy tower consists of a self-supporting tower with a guyed mast on top.
The few remaining Blaw-Knox towers do the opposite: they have a guyed lower section surmounted by a freestanding part.
Zendstation Smilde, a tall tower with a guyed mast on top with guys which go to ground.
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A guy-wire, guy-line, guy-rope, down guy, or stay, also called simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a free-standing structure. They are used commonly for ship masts, radio masts, wind turbines, utility poles, and tents. A thin vertical mast supported by guy wires is called a guyed mast. Structures that support antennas are frequently of a lattice construction and are called "towers". One end of the guy is attached to the structure, and the other is anchored to the ground at some distance from the mast or tower base.
A lattice tower or truss tower is a freestanding vertical framework tower. This construction is widely used in transmission towers carrying high voltage electric power lines, in radio masts and towers (a self-radiating tower or as a support for aerials) and in observation towers. Its advantage is good shear strength at a much lower weight than a tower of solid construction would have as well as lower wind resistance. In structural engineering the term lattice tower is used for a freestanding structure, while a lattice mast is a guyed mast supported by guy lines.
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 3,000 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to an antenna which radiates the waves, and received by another antenna connected to a radio receiver. Radio is widely used in modern technology, in radio communication, radar, radio navigation, remote control, remote sensing, and other applications.