I have built two Force12 Ants. One with 12 Elements the other with three
they worked perfect and went together easily because they had been assm
at the factory first. Give me rivets any time.
73 Steve W8GAZ Minnetonka MN
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Neader
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 1997 10:25 PM
To: steve; 'towertalk@contesting.com'
Cc: Charles H. Harpole; Richard M. Thorne
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] C4XL Results
At 07:50 PM 11/13/97 -0500, Charles H. Harpole wrote:
>If I were to purchase a beam kit that had riveted elements , and I put
it
>all together as per factory directions, including putting in the rivets,
>and then I discovered that the beam was not "right on" --- I would be
>royally pi---ed and angry as well. Bad enuf to try to change hose
>clamped
>elements, but drilling a new hole, etc. would really honk me off ,
>especially if the beam came so highly touted, and I followed the factory
>directions to the letter. Too many stories of post-construction
re-tuning
>for me. de K4VUD
With all due respect, Charles, I think you are being just a tad too hasty
to condemn Force 12 based on Richard's posting. He mentioned that he had
to shorten a 15 meter element to bring the SWR null up a little in
frequency... but you may not know that the 15 meter driver has 3
settings.
You get to pick where you want the antenna to resonate in that band (+/-
125Khz from center freq). And there are 4 settings for the 10 meter
band.
Without knowing which settings Richard used, it's hard to know what the
problem is.
In addition, I understand that Richard is installing the antenna on the
top
of an office building. Perhaps in his particular situation there is
something nearby that is throwing off the SWR.
Or... maybe there really is a problem. But solely based on Richard's
message, we really don't know.
You also mentioned that you'd "be royally pi---ed and angry as well" if
you
put together the antenna per instructions and it wasn't 'right on'. I'm
a
rookie at this, but does one ever put a compromise antenna up the first
time (even per specs) and it's 'right on' on all the bands?? Seems
unlikely to me based on the many variables (other objects nearby, height,
ground conditions, etc.).
I am in the middle of building a C4XL and every ham that has stopped by
to
help out (or sit and admire it) has been very impressed with the
sturdiness, attention to detail, ease of construction, and the nice thick
instruction book. Even the organized way it was shipped was impressive
to
me. All elements were not just marked -- they were taped and nested
together.
The only thing I could suggest to improve the installation would be to
have
better close-up photographs of how to put together the 40 meter tuning.
Tom at Force 12 has told me that he will have such photographs available
shortly (on his web site at least).
I have almost two decades of appliance operating under my belt, and I can
assure you I am NO antenna expert!! But I sure like what I've seen so
far
with my C4XL. Now if we can just get some above-freezing weather, I can
get this thing up the tower (I'm a cold weather wimp -- yes, I know I
live
in Wisconsin).
73 - Scott KA9FOX
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