At 03:04 PM 8/4/98 -0400, K7LXC@aol.com wrote:
>
>In a message dated 98-08-04 14:18:33 EDT, tao@skypoint.com writes:
>
><< I am not sure I understand how it becomes the responsibility of the
antenna
> manufacturer to solve system problems. In two postings we have seen comments
> to the effect that Force-12 was insufficiently response to their request for
> system assistance. I thought that Force-12 sold antennas (and perhaps
> customer support for those antennas). I did not realize that they were in
> the antenna-feedline-tuner-amplifier-transceiver system consulting business.
> >>
>
> Interesting comments. The fact of the matter is that when you put a new
>antenna up and it doesn't work as expected that you focus initially on the
>antenna as the problem.
>
> Yes, the antenna is part of the system and another fact is that it's
not
>always the antenna. In my post yesterday we were installing a new X-9 and it
>didn't perform as expected so I called the factory for some help. And I'm a
>professional installer. In this case it wasn't the antenna either.
>
> A BIG fact is that many hams make assembly mistakes, make wrong
>assumptions, do poor soldering jobs, put CoaxSeal INSIDE the coax connector,
>install traps backwards, ad nauseum. The result is that the new antenna
>doesn't work. The beauty of TowerTalk is that answers are available to anyone
>who cares to ask. But the first thing most people do is to call the
>manufacturer and say that their product doesn't work. The manufacturer tries
>to help the owner through the myriad of things that would solve the problem -
>many of which aren't the antenna.
>
To further add perspective to this:
1) In the case of this antenna the dimensions in the manual and the
dimensions dictated by the factory pre-assembled (rivited in place) boom
to element brackets did not agree. The initial suspicion was that this
might be the problem but there was no way of knowing without talking to
someone who was technically familiar with the antenna. The dimensional
differences could have been a design change to improve the antenna for all
I knew and the "product documentation" had not caught up with the change, a
common problem in many industries or the dimensional problems could have
been a "workmanship problem" and been the root of the whole problem. To
add to this, the open sleeve, trapless multi band driven element is outside
most folks experience (including mine) on what to expect as to what is
critical and what is not.
2) Other antrennas in the farm which are all fed through most of the same
coax string appeared to be behaving normally so the in the grander scheme
of things this further pointed back to the antenna. I have a home brew
40/80/160 Inverted L which did not change after the coax changes, 12m wire
dipole which shifted resonace slightly after the coax fix and a Butternut
vertical that has to be retuned now on several bands beacuse it was
affected a lot especially on 20 and 10, go figure.
3) As it turned out the one band (20M) that appeared to be working ok, told
Tom more about the problem (because he had built many of them) because it
was too flat. A set of published VSWR curves in the manual might have
helped here but its just as possible that it might not. I was seeing an
initial VSWR of 1.3:1 at band edge on 20 and Tom felt that 1.6:1 was more
like it. Pretty subtle actually unless you "know" the antenna.
4) If I had spent $29.95 for the thing then I wouldn't expect technical
support, I spent in the neighborhood of $500 for this antenna I expect
someone who knows something to come to the phone once and a while to
answwer a technical question or to at least call back after 6 tries
especially given the above facts.
5) To give credit (again) where credit is due. The C-3S is a very good
antenna especially for its size and weight. The innovative driven element
feed system and no trap design are to be admired. Its a realtively new and
(perhaps struggling) organization without much technical overhead, when
compared to the likes of Cushcraft or Mosley fro sure. One possible
solution to the scarce availability of technical support if your are
reading this Tom and Natan is to put a trouble shooting FAQ up on your WEB
page. In the time it takes to build another "test" antenna at the factory
this could go a long way towards solving what I am sure in many many cases
are not Force 12 problems but rather "system integrator" problems.
Just my quarters worth
Dave
K9NX
The bad news is....... life is hard
The good news is .....Life is short
The moral is eat dessert first, chase dx while you can and contest often.
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