[TowerTalk] Re: 40m beam with wires dangling down

[Jim Lux]

At 02:54 PM 11/5/2003 -0500, david jordan wrote:
>Yes, you would modify the stepper such that when the copper element inside 
>the fiberglass tube reached full extention the copper tape would make a 
>connection with the dangling wire.
>
>I don't have a stepper so I don't have a mechanical solution for the 
>contact arrangement that I can describe for you.  I'll bet there are 
>skilled folks on this reflector who could come up with something that 
>works well and last a long time.

Uhhh.. but then you wouldn't be able to adjust the element length in the 
loaded condition.  You'd not be able to do all the cool stuff like tuning 
for environmental effects, swapping 180, etc.

What about vacuum relays and ow loss coils at the feedpoints of the 
elements?  Seems like that would be a fairly simple solution, and you've 
already got some cabling going to the element for the motor control.