[Towertalk] Mosley S-402

[BobK8IA@aol.com]

Here's my two cents re the Mosley S-402.

Mine was purchased new in 1972 and had it up until I became inactive in ham 
radio, about 1986-7. I am a "90% CW type" and it played quite well for a 
reduced size yagi. Mechanically there were some problems that requied my 
attention. I suspect most of them were exacerbated with the severe 
wind/ice/snow we regularly have here in Michigan.

1. The elements, in low speed winds, develop a mechanical resonance that 
eventually causes elements to break. This happened twice before I got smart 
enough to string rope thru the elements to dampen/change that resonance. 
Never had a problem after that. (This is old hat now, I know, but that was 
1972 remember.)

2. The insulating blocks, in time, crack. Judicious use of some plastic 
strapping (or many heavy ty-wraps) around the element and element support 
member finally fixed that problem. Before that it was almost a annual deal to 
get new blocks from Mosley. I am sure there are/ were better fixes but this 
one was quick, cheap and worked for me.

3. One of the other contributors mentioning "coils falling off". I had the 
same problem. Mine was due to the small tabs cracking, the ones that connect 
the coil to each side of the element at boom center. The fix that finally 
worked for me was to machine a thicker tab. Mine was about twice the 
thickness of the stock one. There still was enough thread on the coil stud to 
lockwasher and nut properly and I probably used some Loctite as well. At any 
rate, I never had problems with coils again.

73, Bob K8IA (K8HLR 1957-1976)
Michigan USA


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