Hi Andy,
I have rope inside every element on all my antennas. Although there are
many ways to do this, I chose a method that is pretty simple and low cost.
I went to Home Depot and bought about 100' of some thin (about 3/16")
stranded nylon rope. I wanted Nylon because it is fairly light and moisture
resistant. I slid one end of the rope into the element as far as it would
go (this can be anywhere from 3' - 15' or more depending on the element and
the antenna) and then pulled out the rope about 3" before the end. I
unraveled the end and then slid the element cap over the unraveled strands
which I had fanned out around the element tip, much like you would fan out
the braid of RG58x around the the metal reduced/adapter UG176.
After getting the element cap over the strands - which could be difficult at
times - I used Scotch 88 tape to tape the element cap to the element to hold
it in place and then taped up the element for a few turns to make it less
likely for the tape to unravel.
Although this tends to create a larger surface for moisture to "grab onto"
and for ice to form on, I have never had a problem with element damage from
that at my ice-bound location in SW Connecticut. I have also never lost an
element rope or lost an element despite the extreme winds at my qth in
dozens of blizzards, vicious Thunderstorms and Northeasters.
I am sure that putting the rope inside of each element of element piece has
saved many elements and antennas from wind destruction over the years.
Just make sure that you do BOTH sides of each element!
GL and 73
Bob KQ2M
----- Original Message -----
From: "VeeAthreePL" <va3pl@cuic.ca>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 1:40 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Antenna element vibration damping - How
> I have had read somewhere on this reflector that in order to damp element
> vibration in the wind you have to insert rope inside the elements.
> I am just about to install my Mosley TA36 with 40M kit and would like to
> install such a modification. How it is done exactly?
> Thanks
> 73 de Andy - VA3PL
>
> _______________________________________________
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