[TowerTalk] Orion mast clamp

[K7LXC at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/27/2008 3:13:46 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:

>  Steve, what is "my Orion mast-clamp"?  
 
    I offer an after market mast clamp for the  Orion. It's hot-dipped 
galvanized and uses 6 U-bolts to hold the mast. It's  $160. It's not currently on 
the website but I can send you a photo of it if  you'd like. 
 
>  What are the fatal and semi problems?  
 
    The fatal problems with the mast clamp are 1)  the dimpled surface that 
over time allows the nuts to loosen up and 2) the  misaligned and irregular 
teeth on the clamp that are supposed to hold the  mast. For such a massive clamp, 
you actually wind up with a miniscule amount  of surface area that actually 
holds the mast. My experience has been that  virtually 100% of Orion clamps 
loosen up over time. 
 
    The semi-fatal problem is the IMO terrible  controller (that only the 
design engineer could love) and the equally  terrible documentation. It always 
takes one or two calls to the factory to get  one working properly. 
 
>  You are saying not to use the mast clamp that comes with the  2800 factory?
 
    Yep. There was a discussion of the problems on  Kurt, K7NV's' website but 
I couldn't find it. Maybe someone else has a  url for it. 
 
Cheers,
Steve     K7LXC
TOWER TECH
and 
_www.championradio.com_ (http://www.championradio.com) 
Cell: 206-890-4188



 



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