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, K7LXC@aol.com writes >In a message dated 2/26/01 9:59:28 PM Pacific Standard Time, list@qth.com >writes: > >> Surprise surprise, yet another story of rivets failing on Force12 >> antennas. I've included a couple of quotes from Tom N6BT from July last >> year which make interesting reading. It looks like this isn't as rare a >> situation as Tom claims (I have only seen three F12 antennas close up >> that have been installed for more than a year and ALL have had the rivet >> problem). >> > It seems to me that the problem with one set of rivets is that it DOES >provide enough room for the elements to work against themselves and the >rivets (the guys in Texas have this problem as well - they used to call KLM >Konstantly Losing Metal). I think that if you did two sets of rivets 180 >degrees apart from each other or even three sets spaced every 120 degrees >that you would be able to eliminate any working of the elements. What you >would be doing would be putting opposing forces on the element in the case of >the 180 arrangement and even more security with the 120 degree approach. Steve, It's not the element rivets that are the problem. It's the factory installed rivets that hold the element mounting bracket to the boom. I have only seen three long term installations of F12 products and all have had problems. Here's the three scenarios that I have personally seen... Magnum 340 - all brackets loose on boom (rivets loose or missing). 5BA (120mph version!) - lost it's back element in 106mph winds (complete rivet failure). C4-something - 40M elements loose on boom (rivets loose). Force12 have a problem and won't admit it. Andrew Williamson GI0NWG / AC6WI Homepage = http://www.gi0nwg.freeserve.co.uk/ One of the ZL9CI gang http://www.qsl.net/zl9ci/ -------------------------------------------- Force12Talk mailing list provided as a service by Force 12 Antennas, Inc. Force 12 Web site: http://www.qth.com/force12 Submissions: send to Force12Talk@qth.com To unsubscribe: send a blank e-mail to Force12Talk-leave@qth.com Force12Talk Message Archive: http://www.qth.com/force12/list/force12talk For problems with the list, contact n4zr@qth.com |