[TowerTalk] Which Small Tribander for My Roof

[Chuck Sudds]

At 12:20 PM 8/12/98 -0400, you wrote:

Hi Jim!

>I've heard very good things from several people about the durability of the
>TA-33. Can anyone comment on how the Force 12 C series would compare? I'm in
>Atlanta, so icing is a rare occurence. We do get some wind, however.
>- Jim AD4J

I had my old TA-33 in the air for over 25 years and, mechanically, it is a
great antenna. Easy to assemble, straight forward design. I hate traps,
though!! One day when I was chasing a "new one" on 20, one of my sons came
running into the house yelling, "Dad! Your antenna is ON FIRE!" Sure enough,
there were 8 inch flames coming from one of the driven element traps! Yanked
that antenna down and replaced it with a KT34XA! Great performing antenna!
No traps, but as Dave said, a little tricky to assemble at first. Follow the
directions and measure measure and remeasure EVERYTHING and you'll be fine.

The TA33 stayed up throught everything Mother Nature had to throw at it out
here on the flat plains of Iowa and continued to play well. Can't say the
same for the KT34XA. Lots of wind, snow and ice took it's toll on the
antenna and I made several trips up the tower for repairs. Broken set screws
were my biggest complaint. In May, a straight-line wind, clocked here at
103mph took the tower and antenna down and I am in the process of putting a
new tower up but looking at Force12 and HyGain at this time.

Chuck Sudds  K0TVD
Missouri Valley, Iowa USA
   Heartland DX Association   http://ns1.qsl.net/hdxa/

http://www.probe.net/~csudds/  or 
http://www.probe.net/~beakers/


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