[TowerTalk] Have you had success with ....

[Tim Duffy]

HI Gary

I have had fullsize 40 meter beams for 28 years. No rope, no end caps - no
failures.

73
Tim K3LR

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Schafer [mailto:garyschafer at largeriver.net] 
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2019 9:00 PM
To: 'Tim Duffy'; 'Tom_N2SR'; towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Have you had success with ....

I recently took down an A3s (had caps on element ends and boom ends). The
traps with vent holes would whistle in the wind. How do you fix that
problem?
Any problems with the open element ends whistling in the wind?

I am surprised at no rope in the long elements. I have always heard that
rope is a must with 40 meter full size elements?

Thanks
Gary  K4FMX

> -----Original Message-----
> From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> Tim Duffy
> Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2019 7:18 PM
> To: 'Tom_N2SR'; towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Have you had success with ....
> 
> Hello Tom:
> 
> I have 26 Yagi's in the air here and my experience is the same as yours.
> No end caps ever on the elements and no problems. Also no water related
> corrosion issues.
> 
> Every time I am involved in a takedown of a Yagi for a friend ham - and
> there are caps - there is water inside.
> 
> Condensation is a real problem and taking steps to deal with it (dry)
> slows the aluminum corrosion process.
> 
> I have never used rope in elements - no breakage here.
> 
> I must be lucky :-)
> 
> 73
> Tim K3LR
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> Tom_N2SR via TowerTalk
> Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2019 8:09 PM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Have you had success with ....
> 
>  Helped a friend take down his old Mosley CL-33 (being replaced with a
> C19XR soon).  I rigged the antenna to lower it, and when I pulled the U
> bolts, the antenna wanted to flip backwards - because of the water in
> the boom - because he put the caps on.
> All of my antennas (Force 12) have no caps on the boom nor elements.
> Have had zero problems with spiders, bees, wasps or other flying
> creatures.
> 73,
> Tom, N2SR
> 
> 
> 
>     On Saturday, July 20, 2019, 12:42:44 PM EDT, Tim Duffy
> <k3lr at k3lr.com> wrote:
> 
>  Hello Bob:
> 
> How do you get the water out of your elements with caps on them?
> 
> 73
> Tim K3LR
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
> Bob Shohet, KQ2M
> Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2019 12:31 PM
> To: john at kk9a.com; towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Have you had success with ....
> 
> My experiences have been different from KK9A.  Open element tips with
> nothing capping them, is just an invitation for spiders, bees, wasps and
> other flying creatures to nest in them (extremely common here in the
> deep forests of Western CT) and their nests block the drainage of water,
> trapping it inside for it to freeze and split the element.  Or, the
> water stays inside and the weight builds up adding to the potential
> weight and torque imbalances in a heavy wind.
> 
> Prior to my living here I really didn't think that spiders would want to
> climb much less nest in anything 130' off the ground.  I was wrong.  And
> the bee/wasp/flying insect issue was a problem with element tips too.
> Now I don't ever have a problem with them in my antennas because they
> can't get in because I cap and seal the ends.  Antennas that use traps
> have an even bigger potential problem - there have been many past posts
> on this reflector on the topic of trap failures because of nesting
> insects.
> 
> CAUTION:  Different qth's have different climates and different
> critters.  Be sure that you know what you are dealing with BEFORE you
> make a choice to not cap your element tips.
> 
> 73
> 
> Bob KQ2M
> 
> 
> From: john at kk9a.com
> Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2019 11:54 AM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Have you had success with ....
> 
> I have been using NO end caps for decades. There is nothing to fall
> off and nothing to seal water inside the boom or elements which would
> cause severe damage.
> 
> John KK9A
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Charles Morrison N1RR wrote:
> 
> Have you had success with:
> Hot glue gun to attach vinyl end caps to aluminum yagi tips or boom ends
> ?
> 
> -Charlie N1RR
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