Towertalk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [TowerTalk] 6061 vs 6063

Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] 6061 vs 6063
From: "Roger (K8RI)" <K8RI-on-TowerTalk@tm.net>
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:04:14 -0400
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>

Joe Reisert wrote:
> Hi Roger,
>
> I don't know where you live 
Central Michigan, just North of the flat land farming country better 
known as what used to be a big swamp.

> but up here in God's Country (NH) 50 
> miles for the Ocean my antennas seem to stay shiny. In fact, earlier 
> this winter I had to fix one of my verticals that had severe ice 
> storm damage. The only aluminum tubing I had of the size that broke 
> was 6061-T6. Now several months later when I look out, I can spot the 
> 6061-T6 tubing by the dull finish but the 3 year old 6063-T832 
> material on the vertical is still nice and bright.
>   
The old TH-5 has a dull finish that looks like the results of sand 
blasting.  The AV640 is staying *relatively* shiny longer than the other 
antennas, but it slowly turning gray. 
> BTW, even if the tubing is bright when you buy it and it dulls later, 
> you buy for how it looks now. Ditto all the plated hardware some 
> manufacturers sell with their antennas. Looks nice when you put it up 
> but rust soon follows!
>
>   
As someone else said, "the plated hardware goes in a bucket and gets 
replaces with SS" I use lots of Neverseize (sp?) to keep them from 
welding themselves together.

73

Roger (K8RI)
> 73,
>
> Joe, W1JR
>
> At 03:14 PM 3/26/2009, Roger (K8RI) wrote:
>
>
>   
>> Joe Reisert wrote:
>>     
>>> Jim etal,
>>>
>>> One of the reasons many Ham antenna manufactures use 6063 instead of
>>> 6061 is its appearance. 6063 has a nice bright look while 6061 has a
>>> dull appearance. To some this makes the antenna more invisible since
>>> it reflects light although if the sun is in the right position, the
>>> reflection can literally blind you!
>>>
>>>       
>> True, for a "new" antenna, but the finish dulls rapidly to a gray color
>> within weeks to a few months.  All of the antennas in the array here
>> except the old TH-5 were bright and shiny when they went up.  So was the
>> AV-640, but now they just blend in with the sky on an overcast day. <:-))
>>
>> 73
>>
>> Roger (K8RI)
>>     
>>> 73,
>>>
>>> Joe, W1JR
>>>
>>>
>>> At 02:45 PM 3/24/2009, jim Jarvis wrote:
>>>
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>>       
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TowerTalk mailing list
>> TowerTalk@contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>>     
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
>   
_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>