[TowerTalk] Building a Force 12 C3SS

[Jennifer Gruber/Eric Rosenberg]

I spent a couple (3 or so) hours putting together a Force 12
C-3SS on Saturday. 

The antenna was ordered last year, and arrived in late March --
just when I started 
on series of a multi-continent work trips. 

The objective was to completely assemble the antenna on Saturday
and put it up 
the next day.  The final setup is to be on a 2m high roof tower,
where I presently 
have a largish satellite array (16 turn helix for 70 cm, 7x7
elements on 2m, all on 
a 10 ft cross boom) that had to be taken down.

The C-3SS is a 'shortened' version of the C-3. It has 6
elements, the largest being 
24.5 ft, and a ~ 12 ft boom (I didn't measure it).  In order to
shorten the antenna, 
there are linear loading devices (more on those later) for the
20m driven element 
and reflector. 

There were ample parts, clearly labeled, in a short, fat, and
easily manageable box. 
The elements are packaged together, and with the use of a
pop-rivet tool, go together 
very easily.  I made one mistake where I put the "B" side on the
"A" side of one element, 
but was able to recover by simply (And I do mean simply)
drilling out the rivets with a 
hand drill, and moving the element to the correct place. 

The instructions, while comprehensive, are not terribly clear in
a couple of areas. 

There is no discussion of what the SWR curves look like when you
adjust the 10m and 15m 
elements. 

The explanation of how the linear loading elements work isn't
really clear. The 
wires didn't fit through the stubs -- I had to drill out the
holes to make the wires
fit through, and the same wires weren't bent accurately enough
to fit the plexiglass 
spacers correctly. More surgery there. The reflectors are
'glued' to the element...
I haven't done that yet, but hope to -- and put the elements on
the boom and get it up 
on my roof -- next weekend.

Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC
wd3q@erols.com


 

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