| Index | Thread | Archive | May-2003 | Archive | Send |
 |
  |
|
   |
|
  |
|
, WD4K <WD4K2@Charter.net> writes >As a fair counterpoint to the "legend of the failed rivet" because of a F12 >factory failure...Agreed that my info is anecdotal and exclusively my >experience but I have numerous friends using many F12 antennas and all have >the same good experience as I have had. Maybe luck...maybe not. >I have 47 F12 elements in the air on one tower... some up for the past five >years. Some have been up and down several times to move QTH's. On each >opportunity we have hand checked each antenna thoroughly and found >no/zip/nada...failures of rivets or boom bolts. The critical words.... boom bolts. The early higher rated F12 antennas did NOT have boom bolts and these are the ones that have caused trouble. I've personally seen a 120mph 5BA and 100mph Magnum340 have numerous failures here (and have the pictures to prove it). Neither had boom bolts. F12 have not accepted that this was a design flaw, though it's strange they now use bolts in these failure areas and the problem appears to have disappeared. If you want to compare antennas, at the location of the Mag340 which had numerous failures there are nine other homebrew antennas with a total of 51 elements which have their element mounting plates installed with exhaust clamps/U-bolts. These have had zero failures and most have been installed longer than the Mag340. 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. Force12 Web Site: http://www.force12inc.com To Submit Message to the List: Force12Talk@qth.com To unsubscribe and view the Message Archive: see http://qth.com/force12/list For problems with the list: contact n4zr@qth.com |