Kurt,
I have three-high stack of Force 12s: C-51XR, C-31XR, C-51XR. The
C-51XR's are C-31XR's on a 51 ft boom, with a 2-element LL 40m at the
rear of the boom.
I do feed all of my bands with a separate feed line, following the
instructions in the Force 12 manual to make the hairpins for 10 & 15
meters and remove the piece of "romex" that connected 15DE to 20DE. So
that gives me 11 feed lines for the booms 3x 10m, 3x 15m, 3x 20m, 2x
40m.
The hardware used to connect the hairpin match across the split DE must
be tight to the element and tight to the hairpin, without corrosion.
Likewise, if you used the CAL-AV Labs baluns supplied by F12, the
pigtail from it must also be secure and corrosion free at the DE
attachment point. From time to time, I've also had to adjust the 15 and
20 hairpins (I can reach them from the tower); don't know if
wind/temperature/hail has moved them.
Others have indicated intermittent SWR issues in windy conditions; I
likewise have also experienced that symptom, and it is the worst on 15
meters.
Water ingress into barrel connectors has been my biggest foe since
installing this stack 10 years ago.
--Scott, W5WZ
-- W5WZ.com
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