nooooooooooooooooooo
Don't use TEK screws-they rust easily and are disimilar metals-they will
cause the joint to seize. I use TEK screws extensively in my business doing
mobile installs, and I see what happens to grounds etc that people put in
wet environments with these. Use stainless steel screws, and predrill the
hole.
TEK screws have a time and a place, and it's not on antennas.
Maybe others have a different feeling on this, and flame away if you must,
but i've used these for 18 years, and have seen what happens to them
personally.
73,
Scott
KA1CLX
asbestos undies now on
At 11:28 AM 11/15/97 -0500, you wrote:
>In a message dated 97-11-15 10:47:19 EST, js@reallybig.com writes:
>
>> Before any antenna
>> goes up in the air, we drill out every joint and rivet them, a la Force
>12!
>> This is in addition to all the hose clamps, compression straps (and the
>KLMs
>> have many), etc. Why go through "all that trouble?"
>>
>> My feeling is that it is MUCH more work to first pull the antennas down
>> after they are up. The rivets provide two distinct benefits. Firstly, they
>> strengthen all the joints (I have never had a KLM "vibrate apart," not
>even
>> my 4L 40, as so many folks are wont to claim), and secondly, when I must
>> take one apart for some reason, I NEVER have to worry about replicating
>the
>> exact dimensions again. The rivet holes do that for me.
>>
>> The small amount of additional preparation while on the ground saves us
>> many, many more times the work if it doesn't hold up while on the tower.
>>
> Here's another way to do it. Since the rivets take a 2-step process
>(drilling the hole and then installing the rivet) and takes a special tool
>(the pop riveter), here's a one-step way to do it that I have used for years
>- I use Tek screws to do the same job. They are chisel-point self-tapping
>screws that you can get at most hardware stores. All you need are short ones
>with a Phillips head on them and an electric drill with a Phillips drive.
>They provide a nifty mechanical AND electrical bond.
>
> I'm ignoring all discussions of how a hole weakens the aluminum element
>by introducing a stress riser. If you put them on the BOTTOM of the element,
>you minimize the potential problems of drilling a hole in the element.
>
>73, Steve K7LXC
>
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