[TowerTalk] Force 12 c-3 information

[Pat Poirier]

I have a Force 12 5BA that has been in the air for 11 years. I went through 
the antenna 2 years ago and did not see any deterioration of the fiberglass 
insulator on the driven element. All of my PVC element to boom insulators 
were wrapped in Super 33 tape and when I cut the old tape off they all 
looked like new. I then wrapped them again in Super 33 tape. I did replace 
all the hard wear with new stainless steel due to the surface rust on the 
old zinc covered hardware.
I have never had a rivet come loose and the secret behind pulling rivets is 
to make sure that there is no aluminum shaving between the two pieces of 
tubing and make sure that the rivets are pulled tight.
The one thing that I did do is I drilled each and every boom to element 
bracket and installed a stainless steel bolt to lock them into the boom.

73,
Pat
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <BobK8IA at aol.com>
To: <bparry at rgv.rr.com>; <k2vi at cox.net>; <TowerTalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 6:11 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Force 12 c-3 information


>
> This is quite timely. I just got back from helping a friend take down a 
> F12
> 5BA and F12 EF240/230 per his "10 yr maintenance plan". The insulators all
> looked in very good shape. This was after 11 years in Arizona uV !
>
>
> 73, Bob K8IA
> Arizona USA
>
>
> In a message dated 4/6/2008 10:36:12 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
> bparry at rgv.rr.com writes:
>
> That is  ridiculous. I have had two different C3's and the environment 
> here
> is not  antenna friendly. Near the south Texas Coast and at 120 feet. 
> Unless
> hit by  lightning or some other cataclysmic event, your C3 will be working
> just  fine at the end of this coming solar cycle. I would elect to buy the
> C3E  variation though; the sunspots are going to be rising!
>
> I would be  interested in knowing which page of the manual includes the
> statement that  the fiberglass insulator will last only 5 years. I reread 
> my
> manual, I may  have missed it, but I can't find any statement like that. 
> It
> does say that  the PVC element insulators will last for more than 10 
> years.
>
> Bill,  W5VX
>
> P.S. If you are really, really concerned, wrap the insulator in  Scotch 
> 88.
> (Certainly not necessary). Maybe those folks were talking about  the KLM
> center insulators.  I have seen those center insulators break  on multiple
> occasions.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> **************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides.
> 
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