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

[john at kk9a.com]

I have only 10 Yagi's in the air but I do the same, no caps and no  
rope. I quit using end caps when I purchased a few Telrex beams in the  
80's that did no come with them. I realized that they were unnecessary  
and could do a lot of harm if moisture became trapped. Regarding rope,  
I believe that is only needed to compensate for a poorly designed  
element.  I have not had any element vibration or breakage issues on  
my homebrew ropeless antennas.

John KK9A



Tim Duffy k3lr wrote:

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