A better material for ground screens might be expanded aluminum mesh. I've seen 50' rolls of 6" wide mesh for use as gutter screens. I did some googling and found painted Al gutter mesh, but I have s
What is good practice for mounting the standard transmission line balun (DXE, Array Solutions, etc. PVC box with toroid balun inside)? Can they be mounted directly to a metal plate? Is a standoff nee
Rulon and Vespel are terrific materials and fantastic choices for a slow speed bearing, metal to plastic. No stick slip, lowest coefficient of friction for rulon, thermally stable, no moisture absorp
Just went through the same with a new UST HDX589, 4 bolts per leg and wasn't sure I could get even 1 bolt into the rear leg after raising, pivoting on the bottom bolts in the front. However, with som
Answering one of my own questions: I called UST and got through to Remi/Remy ?? the engineer. He said "the flange bolts should be tightened as much as the average person can tighten them with an aver
Only the first of the quoted sentences are attributable to UST, the second is my conclusion. I have to agree that friction in the joint is good, but wonder if tensioning to the rated torque (1000+ ft
I agree that the steel balls on cast aluminum race "thrust bearings" are NFG. Unless the application is a super stack on a big diameter heavy mast, then the thrust load belongs on the rotator and the
I've found that a wadded up plastic grocery bag with a few wraps and ties of the pilot string works just fine for the vacuum cleaner pull or push. No need to fish it as you glue, even for 200' plus r
The solid center conductor cables are spec'd for about 20 bends at the specified radius. I've been told that the failure mode is particularly annoying - intermittent opens. So depending on your crank
A couple more comments, some not covered before: (all comments w/o engineering calcs - YMMV) 1. Square tube is stiffer/stronger than round pipe or wide flange beams (I-beams) of same #/ft.. All of th
Like your logic, but squares have more steel "further out" from the neutral axis so they win (or at least moment calculators say so) see http://www.engineersedge.com/section_properties_menu.shtml Com
You are correct that a larger tube wins for same amount of steel. My comparison was same size/same moment and showed the extra steel needed for round in a 4" shape. The #/ft measure was a bad choice
A good question - even a pair of "slim" shims at 90 degrees apart should work with the compression clamp. These can be ~2x the thickness of a 360 deg shim and easier to drive in. Can the clamp be spr
My store bought bazooka was quiet - both noise and signals. My 80-40-20 fan dipole works better. A tuner matches the feedline Z at band edges and 80m coax swr losses are very low using RG8 or better.
I just put a new pointer drive "belt" (o-ring) into my G2800 controller. What a pain! I think it is generous to describe the controller as "designed." I don't recall a worse electro-mechanical creati
I've rented several in sizes 40 to 90'. Above 40' some renters get sticky about insurance and require a credit application and insurance binder. Neither which were much hassle or cost as a general ho
The only advice I would add is to not use Phillystran through a pulley. Kevlar is not very fatigue resistant and the wind will work the support line back and forth through the pulley. The black dacro
It's been a while, but both of my TH7DXs were right on the manual specs for SWR all bands. All bands bad is your best lead. Could an element slipped position? or a bad balun? I heard disparaging rema
Having pulled a number of permits in Santa Clara County, CA over the last 20 years: 0. If you ask SCC, "do I need a permit for xyz?", they will find a permit to charge you for, no matter how small, t
Some speculation about the source of the twist of cables in conduit: If you pull twisted cable (e.g. 3 x 6ga + 8ga) or twisted pairs or a single stranded wire, then there is a source of (un)twist, or