Do you need 1/4 wall? I use 3" x 1/8 wall 6061 tubing for most of my
antennas, I even used it for a full size 40m beam that I had at my previous
QTH. I don't think that a 40m Moxon would require anything heavier. I would
buy 12' pieces to minimize the couplers or possibly two 15' pieces.
John KK9A
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Boom material.
From: Lee <L@w0vt.us>
Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 00:22:48 -0500
I have been contemplating building a Moxon Yagi 40 meter beam for a long
time and I need to get started with the project. The bottom line is I need a
strong boom 30 foot long. I'll use a boom truss but am thinking of aluminum
around 3 inches in diameter and maybe 1/4 inch wall thickness. I realize
this won't be cheap. Maybe this is not even strong enough for a 2 element
beam. I live near Houston, so I am thinking maybe an aluminum provider might
be able to sell it to me in one piece. (Trying to figure out how to connect
affordable 6 foot shippable pieces has kept me stumped from starting the
project up until now.)
I'd sure appreciate hearing suggestions on how to get the job done. I'm not
trying to do this on the cheap but the best reasonably affordable way to do
it. I'm thinking the cost of a boom like this might be in the $300 to $400
range. (I don't mind splices, but where to get large telescoping tubing? I
wrote DX Engineering and they discouraged me from using their tubing as they
said it was not intended for booms even though I wanted to beef it up with
sleeves). Boom diameter is a factor because cast boom to element clamps
don't come in every size. (I have purchased heavy duty aluminum channel
stock for boom to element connections to be used with aluminum cast
U-clamps.)
Any help would be appreciated.
Lee, w0vt
Houston, Texas
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