[UK-CONTEST] Attn: any ZX-yagi owners out there.

[John Lemay]

Hi Keith

Sorry to hear about the damage. But can I play devils advocate and ask what
on earth possessed you to leave your system so exposed in the widely and
correctly forecast blizzards ? Surely you are familiar with wind loading and
snow loading ?

Regards

John G4ZTR

----- Original Message -----
From: <pat0
58 at abdn.ac.uk>
To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 7:25 PM
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] Attn: any ZX-yagi owners out there.


Hi folks,
Truely evil night up here in the frozen north. Got home through the drifts
(eventually) with a little daylight to spare to see my 3el 20m ZX yagi
lashing about at 70ft in this force 11, doing untold damage to itself and
the 15m yagi underneath it, held up only by what is left of the bracing
rope. A sight for sore eyes for sure!
Lowering and tilting over this tangled mess of aluminium was a pantomime
that even I thought was extreme.

Diagnosis: The boom to mast clamp has completely sheared forward and aft
of the U-bolts fixed to the mast. Clear metal fatigue job and a most
spectacular failure. This yagi....the source of more intra-contest grief
than I care to think of.....was put up in almost identical weather in I
think it was 2001, just prior to ARRL. Some may recall my report!
This is not a big yagi but clearly the boom to mast clamp is unable to
cope with the rotational and flexing forces when it gets windy. I am NOT
impressed.

Just thought I should warn any other owners. Looks like I am out of any
All Band activity for a while and maybe any band activity if this keeps
up. 80, 40 and 10m still standing when last I looked!
Good luck,
Keith GM4YXI (GM7V)


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