Hello Tim,
I have taken down many antennas over the years but I never saw water in any of
my elements with caps on them and the rope in the element tips was always
completely dry. If there was ever any condensed water droplets in the element
tips at some point, it clearly dried up.
In the 20+ years since I put up my first yagi at this qth, I have have never
had any element tips split so if there ever was any water in the element tips
that froze, it was not enough to split or damage the element.
73
Bob KQ2M
From: Tim Duffy
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2019 12:42 PM
To: 'Bob Shohet, KQ2M' ; john@kk9a.com ; towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Have you had success with ....
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@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bob
Shohet, KQ2M
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2019 12:31 PM
To: john@kk9a.com; towertalk@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@kk9a.com
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2019 11:54 AM
To: towertalk@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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