I have put up four Lightning Bolt quads over the years, all two element
models -
two in VR, one in HS & another in 9M6.
The first one in VR belonged to VS6WV (SK). After first seeing the wire but
without any experience with its longevity, when I ordered mine I first asked
them to leave the wire out because I expected it to rot away - but Mike Duddy
said give it a go anyway.
For the first two years, it was right on the beach. For the past five
years, it
has been a little further from the beach. No problems with rot & even this far
back I get a lot of salt spray build up on everything. VS6WV's, located up on
a mountain top, also did not rot despite the additional exposure to urban
area pollution plus constant moisture from being up in the clouds.
The wire is quite strong & as one person has pointed out, is used to slightly
stress the spreaders. Those bowed spreaders are quite handy when it comes
time to single-handedly pull the antenna down before a typhoon. VS6WV
never took his down for typhoons & in one instance, he lost a spreader
because of flying debris which on inspection looked to have hit the wire & not
the spreader. This stuff is strong!
The wire can be a little frustrating during the stringing process, but I
once had
to replace the wire holders (all 40) due to the worm screw on the hose clamp
not being stainless after about four years of service. I did this
single-handedly
in a day, including pulling the elements down to the ground, again, all by
myself.
The quad in HS has been sold by its owner to someone else, who I understand
reassembled it with the original wire after pulling it down from the top of
a 10
floor building.
Once kinked, this wire will break & the only failures I've had was where I
suspect grazing cows got into the elements when they were down on the
ground for a typhoon. No, I told a lie - I had another break when the elements
were on the roof during a typhoon when I was not home. I did not lash them
down well enough & they moved around a bit & snagged on the house. Note
that these breaks happen because I must pull down the elements very
frequently compared to most users.
I was very skeptical of this stuff originally, but now I'm convinced it's
great in
this application. Admittedly, aluminum is a little more lossy & yes, one needs
to take extra care with the connections, but I'm glad I went with what Mike
Duddy supplies with his products. His support is excellent, having
provided the
replacement wire holders free of charge. The only problem with this antenna is
that the spacing is a bit too much on 28 Mc... I wish the boom were a bit
shorter & the spreaders angled a bit more. My only regret is not having gotten
one sooner.
If one is homebrewing or restringing a quad where the physical attributes
of this
aluminum wire could be advantageous, I would strongly recommend using the
stuff.
73, VR2BrettGraham
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