[TowerTalk] Shorty Forty Hose Clamp thread

[Robert Harmon]

Doug,

I no longer use hose clamps after having them strip as you had happen or the connection 
loosening after flexing back and forth in the wind (I am also in the Pacific NW)
Now I only use rivets.  I have had a number of Force 12 antennas and no problem 
at all with the connections.  Their riveted conns sold me.  The HF beams I have fabbed have riveted elements
and no problems.  I wipe on Penetrox when assembling and later when taking apart
the tubing is like new.  Plus to change element lengths it is super easy to drill 
out the center of the rivets, they pop right out.  Now I can sleep easy while the winds blow,  hihi.

The Cushcraft XM240 at 85 feet should be great.  I will be hoisting up a Force 12  20M 3EL  / 40M 2EL
interlaced on a 28 foot boom in a couple of weeks.  For 40 the best I have had is a rotatable 
dipole so it will be fun to see how two elements will do.  

73,
Bob
K6UJ


 
> On Aug 7, 2015, at 9:06 PM, W7ZZ <w7zz at wavecable.com> wrote:
> 
> It's ironic that this thread just showed up.  By coincidence, I put up a
> Cushcraft XM240 just last Friday at 85 feet.  Since I managed to "strip"
> several of the hose clamps as I built the antenna, trying to tighten them to
> the max, I decided to augment the hose clamps by drilling holes at each
> joint to insert a stainless steel self tapping screw to eliminate the danger
> that the elements could move or, worse still, fall out after the antenna was
> at an unserviceable height.  We get some hellacious windstorms here in the
> Pacific NW and I could just envision that antenna at 85 feet, totally
> unreachable without hiring a crane again, with a missing end piece.  I will
> sleep better at night knowing that the screws are in there.  I don't know
> anything about pop rivets, but they sound even better but the screws should
> work well.  
> 
> 
> 
> W7ZZ  
> 
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