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Concept
Radio masts and towers
Summary
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.
Official source
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