[TowerTalk] those 4 foot 1.5" fiberglass army surplus tubes...
Tom_N2SR
tom_n2sr at yahoo.com
Sat Dec 26 16:25:33 EST 2015
You see them all over the place: ebay, even Dayton.
I'm looking to try and use several/many of them to create a horizontal "outrigger" or "boom" to keep an eventual 80m 4 square away from a C31XR that is at 40 feet. Unfortunately, that out rigger needs to be over 50 feet feet long, in order to clear the C31XR. There will be two of them, hence 4 directions.
I know that I will have to create a boom truss to support it and the weight of the wire verticals, the coax and balun.
The question is, is there a better way? I've looked at DX Engineering's fiberglass tubing. I've looked at Max Gain Systems (?) fiberglass tubing. I know that Vibroplex sells Spiderbeam fiberglass poles. Everything I look at seems to be for use in the vertical plane, not horizontal.
So, any ideas?
If I use those 4 foot surplus tubes, how to connect them together - permanently? I was thinking of epoxying them together and also use 2 stainless steel bolts in opposing directions. Will they stand up to UV or do I have to use Scotch 88 tape and protect them?
My initial thoughts are to mount a pulley at each end of the tube, and use that point as one of the connection points for the "boom truss." I realize that I might even need multiple trusses along the "boom" to support it.
Thoughts? Other ideas? The tower is 90 feet, with a C31XR at 80 feet, so I can't just move the vertical up to clear the low antenna. The turning radius of a C31XR is around 24 feet, so I don't have to go 32 feet out from the tower.
Thanks.
Tom, N2SR
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