I had several F12 antennas. One element of a 2 el 40M antenna fell off when
the pop rivets on the element to boom plate elongated the holes on the boom.
Those rivets were done by F12. Why? No idea. It destroyed the element that
fell off (fell from about 117 feet). None of the other rivets on 3 antennas
showed that kind of behavior.
73, Larry W6NWS
-----Original Message-----
From: Bryan Swadener via TowerTalk
Sent: Saturday, August 08, 2015 4:28 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Shorty Forty Hose Clamp thread
I too own a F12 yagi. Mine is the C-4XL 40/20/15/10m that I obtained used
from a ham in Indiana. It came to me needing a few "sticks" of tubing
replaced. The seller supplied the new pieces. I needed to source the pop
rivets. It turns out the "aircraft" rivets (according to Force12) are just
corrosion resistant steel, that I obtained from McMaster-Carr.
I've had it up only a few years but, so far, so good atop my 72' tower. It
has weathered several strong Pacific Northwet storms here in Everwet, WA.
vy 73 es gl,Bryan WA7PRC
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2015 22:02:00 -0700
From: Robert Harmon <k6uj@pacbell.net>
To: "<towertalk@contesting.com>" <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Shorty Forty Hose Clamp thread
Doug,
I no longer use hose clamps after having them strip as you had happen or the
connection
loosening after flexing back and forth in the wind (I am also in the Pacific
NW)
Now I only use rivets. I have had a number of Force 12 antennas and no
problem
at all with the connections. Their riveted conns sold me. The HF beams I
have fabbed have riveted elements
and no problems. I wipe on Penetrox when assembling and later when taking
apart
the tubing is like new. Plus to change element lengths it is super easy to
drill
out the center of the rivets, they pop right out. Now I can sleep easy
while the winds blow, hihi.
The Cushcraft XM240 at 85 feet should be great. I will be hoisting up a
Force 12 20M 3EL / 40M 2EL
interlaced on a 28 foot boom in a couple of weeks. For 40 the best I have
had is a rotatable
dipole so it will be fun to see how two elements will do.
73,
Bob
K6UJ
On Aug 7, 2015, at 9:06 PM, W7ZZ <w7zz@wavecable.com> wrote:
It's ironic that this thread just showed up. By coincidence, I put up a
Cushcraft XM240 just last Friday at 85 feet. Since I managed to "strip"
several of the hose clamps as I built the antenna, trying to tighten them
to
the max, I decided to augment the hose clamps by drilling holes at each
joint to insert a stainless steel self tapping screw to eliminate the
danger
that the elements could move or, worse still, fall out after the antenna
was
at an unserviceable height. We get some hellacious windstorms here in the
Pacific NW and I could just envision that antenna at 85 feet, totally
unreachable without hiring a crane again, with a missing end piece. I
will
sleep better at night knowing that the screws are in there. I don't know
anything about pop rivets, but they sound even better but the screws
should
work well.
W7ZZ
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