[TowerTalk] small aluminum tubing source

[Chris Hurlbut]

Just bought some tubing from DXE after lots of similar research.

You save on shipping with them usually compared to other vendors.

Plus you know it's the quality you want, and the service is 100%.

Don't trust your antennas way up in the air to knock offs. Everything is
expensive these days!

-Chris KL9A

On Fri, Mar 14, 2025, 6:24 PM <john at kk9a.com> wrote:

> There was a time that I bought almost everything ham related from Gerald at
> Texas Towers but now they have a very limited selection.
>
> If you are looking at online metal suppliers, be sure that you purchase
> drawn tubing and not extruded if you want to telescope the sections.  In
> recent years I have bought 6061-T6 on eBay and 6063-T8 from DX Engineering.
> DX Engineering also sells Stauff clamps, aluminum mounting plates, mast
> saddle clamps and everything else needed to copy the simple dipole shown in
> your links.  If you're attaching this to a Ø2" mast you could use a DX
> Engineering BEB-2 Insulated Boom-to-Element Bracket for the center instead
> of an aluminum plate and start with Ø7/8 aluminum tubing instead of Ø3/4.
>
> John KK9A
>
>
> from  Jim Pruitt WA7DUY
> N5YIZ had a youtube video:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nw2kGq4Kfw&t=630s
> and PDF of a build documnt at:
> https://www.prestonmoore.com/hamradio/rotatable_dipole.pdf
>
> It uses 12ft each of 1/2", 3/8", 5/8", and 3/4" aluminum tubing with .058"
> wall thickness.  He lists Texas Towers as the source for the tubing.  I
> tried to buy the materials this past week from Texas Towers but they are
> out
> of stock.  I tried to contact them and finally got a reply saying that
> Texas
> Towers has no plans to restock any of that tubing.
>
> I then called Alcobar in Spokane and they want $400 for the 48ft. I
> contacted Onlinemetals.com and they want $300 for the tubing (plus
> outrageous shipping). Again we are talking 6ft lengths (2 each).
>
> Does anyone know of a REASONABLY priced supplier for the smaller aluminum
> tubing?
>
> Thank you.
>
> Jim Pruitt
> WA7DUY
>
>
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