[TowerTalk] champion radio replacement clamp for orion 2800

[Dick Green WC1M]

I'm using the Champion replacement clamp on my Orion rotor, which turns a 16
sq ft antenna. It's working as advertised: the mast hasn't rotated in the
clamp at all since I installed it.

When using the stock clamp, the beam used to rotate up to 60 degrees in high
winds (around here that means 40+ MPH). Since installing the Champion clamp,
the beam hasn't budged. Well, actually that's not true. Early this winter, a
heavy wind caused the antenna to rotate on the mast at the boom-to-mast
clamp. It appears that eliminating the rotation in the rotor clamp revealed
the boom-to-mast clamp as the weak link. Since tightening those bolts as
hard as I could, the beam hasn't budged. I may need to use some loctite on
those u-bolts. Of course, none of this would apply to a base-rotated tower.

I love the look of the N7NV clamp, and I'm sure it works very well, but it
was significantly more expensive and would have required me to jack up the
mast/antenna quite a bit more to install. The Champion clamp can be slipped
in with minimal clearance between the mast and rotor. I was also concerned
about the tolerance of the N7NV clamp if my mast happened to be slightly
larger than 2".

73, Dick WC1M

-----Original Message-----
From: Dick Hanson [mailto:dick at dkhanson.com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2011 5:19 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] champion radio replacement clamp for orion 2800

Hello....

I am presently using four of the 2800s, ground-mounted to turn rotating
towers.
I'm having some problems getting the orion clamps to stay 'tight' on the
sprocket shafts (2" solid steel shafts).

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has actually made the change from
orion to champion shafts.
Don't need theories....need real, live experiences.

Thank you.
Dick, K5AND
Austin, TX