Towertalk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [TowerTalk] Aluminum tubing slip joints seized - my final answer

To: Mike & Becca Krzystyniak <k9mk@flash.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Aluminum tubing slip joints seized - my final answer
From: Robert Chudek - K0RC <k0rc@citlink.net>
Reply-to: k0rc@citlink.net
Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2011 23:45:36 -0500
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Hi Mike...

No, unfortunately I don't know much about the Telrex designs. When they 
were manufacturing antennas I was lucky to be able to afford 150 feet of 
copper wire, some TV ribbon cable, and an 807 CW transmitter! (Knight 
Kit T-50)

But I do know that HyGain put rope in some of their antennas for the 
dampening effect. I think my TH-5DX had ropes in some of the elements 
(or maybe it was the Cushcraft ?).

73 de Bob - K0RC in MN
------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 9/7/2011 9:30 PM, Mike & Becca Krzystyniak wrote:
> Hi Bob,
>
>     As you may know, the original Telrex designs used a double wall tip to
> dampen the low rate oscillations caused by the wind or other (and many used
> the corona tear drop too).  The double walls on the element tips of my
> 20M436 were in the neighborhood of 4' - 6'.  Put in backwards the element
> tips broke off in just a few months.  Double wall toward the boom and none
> failed, ever.  And it never rattled in the wind either.  Element wig-wag
> became my next foe...
>
> 73's  Mike K9MK
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Robert Chudek - K0RC
> Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 6:16 PM
> To: TowerTalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Aluminum tubing slip joints seized - my final
> answer
>
> The issue was a little more "complex" than I first thought.
>
> I discovered there wasn't a simple 4" to 6" of overlap, but about 48"
> instead. It's apparent this antenna was not assembled to manufactures
> specifications. The extra tubing did not add to the mechanical strength.
> It only added unnecessary weight. The excess tubing was at the tip end
> of the tube, not the tower end.
>
> What did work to some extent was inserting another (long) tube from the
> opposite direction and driving the inside tube toward the tip. This was
> only partially successful and I had to resort to the hacksaw. Actually,
> I used a tubing cutter for a clean cut. Then I drove the remaining
> inside piece back toward the tower end. I had to use this method on both
> halves.
>
> Pulling a few pieces from my aluminum pile I was able to reassemble the
> antenna. At the same time I added stiffening to the junctions by adding
> internal sleeves where needed.
>
> The remaining task is to model this (again) and see how to make a 62.5
> foot element resonate at 7.1 MHz. I'm thinking capacity hats somewhere
> out near the ends, like the Cushcraft 2 element 40m yagi.
>
> 73 de Bob - K0RC in MN
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
>
_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>