Guess I'll have to take back the poormouthing I did about my local tubing
supplier. He delivered a 2" x 23' piece of 3/16" wall 4130N Chrome moly
today for $125 including shipping from Chicago and tax. I was impressed. It
is truly incredible how stiff this stuff is for its relatively light weight.
It's not galvanized, of course, so now I have to investigate the
possibilities of doing that, but worst case is I have to clean it and paint
it inside and out. I hope I don't regret not going for the 1/4" wall, which
I could have had for about $7 per foot, but at a considerable penalty in
weight. I had to take pot luck on any length available between 19' and 26',
so am of course happy with the 23'. This will leave me with 13' inside the
45G, and about 10' sticking out (antennas at 1' and 5'), pretty much
negating any major worries about sideways rotor stress. All I have to worry
about now is will the 3/16" 4130N handle the load, and I'm pretty sure it
will. The extra 2 feet above the 75M dipole truss is for who knows what some
day.
Jerry W5KP
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