I meant to say that the boom crushes from the element clamp on my A3. If
you leave it too loose the element will spin. The aluminum is very soft
compared to the 6061-T6 that I use for my homebrew beams however for the
price and size I have not complaints about the performance. My A3 is 15
years old, I wonder how the new MFJ ones are?
John KK9A
On 2015-04-11 10:24, Grant Saviers wrote:
> I'm using an A4S for field days that started to show various sags and bends
> after up 7 years in an exposed site, maybe 70mph peak winds. It is weak at
> the boom to mast and at the elements at the boom so cutting and double wall
> sleeving got it all straight. Maybe $30 of tubing from DXE. Trap boots now
> need replaced, available from MFJ (btw mine was original CC). The stamped "C"
> shape boom to element clamps also splay with use so the elements loosen. Two
> 6-32 x 2" SS machine screws on the "C" flanges keep this from happening. An
> enthusiastic FD assembler squashed one element by overtightening the through
> bolts, so some more cut and double sleeve fixed that and made it more
> assembler proof. Overall an ok antenna if tweaked a bit. I can't speak to
> what MFJ "value engineering" has done to it.
>
> Grant KZ1W
>
> On 4/11/2015 5:17 AM, john@kk9a.com wrote:
>
>> I also own a Cushcraft A3, but I have only used it for field day type setups
>> and it's currently in a box in Aruba. The aluminum tubing crushes when you
>> tighten the element clamps and in my opinion it is not heavy duty but I have
>> had many contest wins with it so I have no complaints. I used a different A3
>> during the ARRL DX Phone contest last month. It was mounted at 33'. One
>> element fell off a couple weeks before the contest but it was repaired.
>> Running barefoot I made over 6200 QSOs in a weekend so it works reasonably
>> well. You can read more about this contest effort here ->
>> http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/3830/2015-03/msg02222.html [1]
>> John KK9A To: TOWERTALK@contesting.com Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] antenna
>> choices for K4XS From: Bill via TowerTalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
>> Reply-to: Cqtestk4xs@aol.com Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 07:52:16 -0400 Ed is
>> right about not having to spend money to have a big signal. Although I
>> bought my M2 stuff new, the four Cushcraft an
tennas
are all used. The A-3 tribander cost me $75. The three high stack of A-3WS
antennas were all second hand and I think the three high stack for 12/17 cost
me around $500 total and that includes the 30 meter adapter kit for the top
one. The signal is second to none on 12 and 17....for $500. Bottom line, like
Ed said...you can spend big bucks for antennas or you can be resourceful and do
it on the cheap, but still have a good signal. K4XS
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Links:
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[1]
http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/3830/2015-03/msg02222.html
[2] http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
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