Arne,
I did the upgrade about a year and a half ago and have had good results.
I've attached a before and after SWR plot for you at your home email.
The structural upgrade alone is worth the effort and cost. My OLD KT34XA was
up from 1983 till 2002. When I took it down I had driven element damage due
to rotor failure and the cable wrapping around the mast and pulling the
matching network in towards the mast. Many of the shorting clamps had worked
loose also.
The new "machined" shorting bars are much better and add considerable
rigidity and long term connectivity to the elements.
I disassembled all of the element tips completely leaving only the boom and
each boom to element bracket in place for each of the elements out to where
the tips insert. I did remove and clean the shorting strap across each
element where it crosses the boom.
I also replaced the balun with a new one from M2. This was expensive and I
understand now there's a cheaper way to go to for a 4:1 balun.
I also went for the new boom-element brackets for the two driven elements. I
forget why at the moment but I think they were a better fit for the
reengineered driven elements.
The hardest part I encountered was the disassembly of the elements tubes
that were inserted into each other. I had to use allot of lubrication and
let them soak before they'd come apart.
The entire process is time consuming but in the end was worth it.
I know this is subjective but, since it went back up, I've had fun working
260 countries on 10-15-20 with 100 watts from my IC756-ProII.
Joe - KC2TN
"If you're sure of everything,
and it still doesn't work,
one of the things you're sure of is wrong!"
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of ARNE GJERNING
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 8:11 PM
To: TOWER TALK
Subject: [TowerTalk] KT-34XA to KT-36XA mod
Would like to get some responses to those of you who have done this
conversion. Was there any noticeable differences? Any problems? I have
recently purchased 2 of these in pretty good condition and considering this
mod for both. Any other changes (besides the infamous caps) or things to
look at/change while doing the mods?
My plan: stack on side mounts to optimize for 10/15M and to have lower 20M
antennas for domestic contests.
73 de Arne N7KA
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
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http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
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