[TowerTalk] Bencher Skyhawk

[ac9s at mchsi.com]

>I'm planning on putting up a Bencher Skyhawk Tribander along with their
>Skylark 17/12 meter beam, so if you have either one of those antennas, I
>would appreciate hearing your thoughts on performance and reliability.

>Thanks!

>John K7KB

I used a Skyhawk for a few years, purchased it essentially on the K7LXC tribander comparison report.  That publication is worth the read if you are in the market for a new tribander, although it was done a while ago and does not include the SteppIr.  I lost my Skyhawk to an ice storm; the boom broke.  Although Bencher makes much of the beam not needing a boom truss, clearly mine did.  Also, the elements appeared to be undersized.  They took on a permanent "set" at the last taper.  Electrically the beam worked extremely well, but I replaced it with a 3 El SteppIr / 40 meter option/ which is vastly more convenient, but has its own reliability issues.  

Note that the ice storm which dropped my Skyhawk spared my good friend AB9M's TH7 - he is about 1/2 mile away.  I also have a next door neighbor, Ray, K9XL, whose Cushcraft tribander had no damage.  Mine was the only beam in the Bloomington/Normal area which suffered damage in the ice storm, so I do believe it is under engineered for high wind and ice.  As a point of comparizon, I had a Cushcraft WARC dipole 8 feet above the Bencher.  I think most people would describe that antenna as wimpy; I certainly do.  It had a slight bend at the center insulator, but survived the storm in better shape than my Skyhawk.  Note that Bencher rates the antanna for 90 mph, no mention of ice.  I might be very long lived in a less rigorous environment.  

I really appreciated the double boom to mast plate.  It makes it very easy to slip the antenna onto the mast.  I would also give high marks to the the all stainless and riveted construction.

I have mixed emotions about the wind compensating plates.  They might have collected anough ice to overstress the boom.

Keith
AC9S