[TowerTalk] KLM KT34-XA Refurbishing

[CQK8DO@aol.com]

My KT34XA took a major hit in May measured at 110mph at the airport... It was
broadside to the wind and 4 of the elements rotated on the boom into the
vertical position... One element bent about 5 degrees right at the boom
saddle... Took it down recently (finally) and went through it and it is ready
to go back up  - hopefully tomorrow if the &%$*#@(!  wind stops blowing...

At the time of assembly 3 years ago Ken, N8GAN, and I looked at the stuff that
KLM supplied and had bad vibrations about it... We got tubes of Penetrox  and
larded the connections liberally with that...
While I have it on the ground I opened one strap and looked at the joint...
Clean and bright and some goop still present.. Freshened it up and closed
it...  Had a similar experience with Penetrox in the past on a beam that was
up for 17 years... I've also used NoAlox and both are trustworthy....

Also, on initial assembly 3 years ago we hoisted the beam about 30 feet into
the air on the tram line and verified resonance and swr... The we let it back
down and at every hose clamp I drilled a hole and set a 1/8" aluminum pop
rivet (aircraft stuff, not hardware store)... This time after unbending things
and realigning the saddles I again hoisted the beam and checked it... It swr
curves identically to the data when new...  Rivets have a lot to recommend
them... If your swr is off later then it is bad connections or bad traps and
NOT detuning of the elements, and the rivets remove the urge to "adjust" the
problems away...

Denny

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