[TowerTalk] HyGain 155CA dampening rope

[Neal Sulmeyer]

​I have never had any issues with  fatigue on the tapered  element Hy-Gain antennas.  I have had two 105's, a 205 that I converted to 15M (yielding stiffer elements), two 155's and two 204s.  However, at our contest station in the Malibu, California mountains, right off the ocean, was a different story.  All our antennas were home brew and no matter how well we designed the tapers and what thickness the element walls, element fatigue was a serious problem.  We used rope at first, but several time we found broken elements hanging by the ropes!  Our solution was to use "Great Stuff" foam we purchased at Home Depot.  It took a few trails to get the foam to go all the way down the element, the trick being slow and steady.  Never had a problem after that. 



Neal, K4EA (ex AE6E)



On Wed, 06/21/2017 10:22 AM, David Aslin G3WGN <david at aslinvc.com> wrote:
> 
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
> 
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