[TowerTalk] Redesigned Hy Tower Stinger

[Dennis Ashworth]

The recent thread regarding Hy Gain Hy-Towers brought back memories of when 
I acquired a used Hy-Tower and wanted to made modifications to optimize the 
antenna for  80, 40 and 30M operation. One of the first observations - both 
looking at my Hy-Tower and others, was the top stinger seems to frequently 
develop a permanent bend, presumably after exposure to high wind or ice 
loading. I decided to build a new stinger which would reduce susceptibility 
to bending, and move the antenna closer to a quarter wave on 80M.

The result is a 40 foot, triple walled aluminum stinger that has a 
calculated wind survival rating (no ice) of >80MPH. Material cost was about 
$200 for the 40 foot version, less if you wanted to stop at the stock 
Hy-Tower stringer length. If anyone is interested in the design, let me 
know. The file is about 250K and includes a bill of material, cut list, etc.

All that said, one should think long and hard about increasing the length 
of the stinger as it will absolutely affect the stock design on the other 
bands. You're probably okay on 40M (with the stock 40M stub), and you'll 
find it works quite well on 30M, but anything else is a crap shoot. If 
you're interested in 80M (or perhaps using the extended stinger to support 
an inverted L or tee for 160M), I think you'd be pleased with the integrity 
of the lengthened stinger.

Thanks for K7EM who modelled the mechanical design of the extended stinger .

Dennis, K7FL
Battle ground, WA