[TowerTalk] Shorty Forty Hose Clamp thread

Larry lknain at nc.rr.com
Sun Aug 9 11:32:51 EDT 2015


I had several F12 antennas. One element of a 2 el 40M antenna fell off when 
the pop rivets on the element to boom plate elongated the holes on the boom. 
Those rivets were done by F12. Why? No idea. It destroyed the element that 
fell off (fell from about 117 feet).  None of the other rivets on 3 antennas 
showed that kind of behavior.

73, Larry  W6NWS

-----Original Message----- 
From: Bryan Swadener via TowerTalk
Sent: Saturday, August 08, 2015 4:28 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Shorty Forty Hose Clamp thread

I too own a F12 yagi. Mine is the C-4XL 40/20/15/10m that I obtained used 
from a ham in Indiana. It came to me needing a few "sticks" of tubing 
replaced. The seller supplied the new pieces. I needed to source the pop 
rivets. It turns out the "aircraft" rivets (according to Force12) are just 
corrosion resistant steel, that I obtained from McMaster-Carr.
I've had it up only a few years but, so far, so good atop my 72' tower. It 
has weathered several strong Pacific Northwet storms here in Everwet, WA.
vy 73 es gl,Bryan WA7PRC

    Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2015 22:02:00 -0700
From: Robert Harmon <k6uj at pacbell.net>
To: "<towertalk at contesting.com>" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Shorty Forty Hose Clamp thread

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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