Thread: Howdy & what is
View Single Post
  #8   Report Post  
Old April 21st 12, 02:51 AM
K5RIX K5RIX is offline
Junior Member
 
First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Mar 2012
Location: North of Chapman Ranch, Texas
Posts: 5
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by amdx[_2_] View Post
On 3/13/2012 2:29 PM, K5RIX wrote:
Thanks! The R7 worked well for me and later for my mom. I had it up on
a ten-foot mast in Zion, IL. A nice op up in Kenosha, WI about twelve
or thirteen radio miles to the north also had an R7 up on his garage and
we could just about pin each other's S-meters on 40 with 100 watts. The
tornado storm caused a big tree to fall on one of the 3/16" Dacron guy
ropes and the antenna bowed severely, but I was able to fix it (the
insurance paid for a new one!).

At some time during one of several Navy moves the counterpoise spokes
and the x-hat rods were lost. I ordered replacements from MFJ and it
took them five months to get the parts to me. A local ham has advised
me to wipe the aluminum a few times per year with WD-40 against the
salty air here on the Gulf. One concern is the longevity of the
fiberglass base insulator in the South Texas sun, and I am contemplating
coating it with roof tar. Any suggestions along this line are most
welcome.


Have you seen the product called "Rescue Tape"
Resisting salt water and UV rays are a couple of it's
characteristics. I bought some at a hamfest, but I saw it yesterday at
West Marine.
It doesn't leave any sticky residue when you remove it.
Here's the website.
http://www.rescuetape.com/
Mikek

I don't work for the company, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn.

Mikek - THANKS for the link to Rescue Tape! That looks to be exactly what I need to protect the fiberglass base insulator, which is actually still in pretty good shape. I replaced the short section of braid between the matching box and the radial spokes with a nice bit of tinned braid strap. Everything came apart pretty easy and was cleaned with a green ScotchBrite pad, and this time I used plenty of Penetrox at the joints and on the threads. Excellent so far.

The antenna is mounted atop a ten-foot + length of hurricane fence rail which is mounted to a cheap three-foot RS galvanized tripod. The tripod is bolted to a T-shaped base fabricated from 1 X 8 pine such that the whole thing can be tilted down by removal of a stainless wing nut that holds down the rear tripod leg. The base is fixed to the ground with three really big tent stakes; a set of three dacron guys completes the simple installation.

Once again, many thanks to y'all for the good ideas!