[TowerTalk] HyGain 155CA dampening rope

[Bob Shohet, KQ2M]

Hi David,

I have used the dampening rope in every single element of my 11 Hygain Yagis (105CA/155CA/205CA) at my extremely windy hilltop qth.  I have never lost an element or element tip and I believe that is from the combination of using the dampening rope held on by the element endcap plus the fact that I DOUBLE hoseclamp every telescoped element section. (I replaced all the Hygain element clamps with Stainless Steel hoseclamps).  I then generously taped over every hoseclamp with Scott’s 33 electrical tape.  What I did is a lot of extra time and energy and expense and it has been worth every penny since I have never had a single failure in 18 years since I put up my first tower and 105CA.

My qth and all antennas have survived two tornados (F0 and F1), the 110 mph gusts of Hurricane Sandy and 85 mph gusts of Hurricane Irene and countless violent Thunderstorms, Nor’easters and icestorms.  I am 100% certain that would not have been possible without the use of the dampening ropes/endcaps, replacing and DOUBLE hoseclamping (with stainless steel hoseclamps) each telescoped element piece and taping over the hoseclamps.

My thinking was that the cost of an extra $50 and two hours work per antenna on the ground for these items is nothing compared to the time, energy and hassle of losing a piece of or an entire element before or during a contest or when the wx precludes taking them down to fix them.

73

Bob KQ2M

From: David Aslin G3WGN 
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2017 10:22 AM
To: towertalk at contesting.com 
Subject: [TowerTalk] HyGain 155CA dampening rope

Mindful of Steve's 'Prime Directive' which suggests I absolutely should use the dampening rope in my recently acquired used 155CA, what is the experience of the TowerTalkian brains trust of the need for  the rope in a 155BA/CA at a relatively exposed site?
73, David G3WGN  M6O