[50mhz] cushcraft question

Sat Jul 8 20:44:21 EDT 2006

Hi all!
I would have to agree with Carl on his points about Cushcraft Stainless
Steel hardware.  I have used these antennas at various times for thirty
years and have never had a problem with seizing connectors or hardware.
Recently, I pulled down two modified 32-19 two meter yagis that had been up
for about fifteen years and once I pulled off the tape and Coax-Seal (tm),
the connectors were clean and came off easily.
I have also looked at the element bolts and they are clean as well.  
Because I standardized my boom to mast hardware years ago, I can't speak to
the U-bolts on these antennas, but I have never had a problem with any
Cushcraft hardware in the past. 

Vy 73,
Gordon Beattie, W2TTT
201.314.6964
w2ttt at att.net
w2ttt at att.com
w2ttt at arrl.net

-----Original Message-----
From: 50mhz-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:50mhz-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of jeremy-ca
Sent: Saturday, July 08, 2006 7:29 PM
To: Bill W5WVO; 50mhz at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [50mhz] cushcraft question

CC was one of the earliest companies to offer SS hardware, at least on 
antennas not at the low end.of the price spectrum.
Since I live about 15 miles from CC and have used their products since Les 
Cushman ran the company, Im rather familiar with their products, history, 
good and bad points.

Also living near the ocean, being retired Navy and owning a commercial tower

site Im quite familiar with the various SS specs, thank you.

FYI, most of the commercial installers Ive known do not use SS and prefer 
heavily galvanized Grade 5 & 8 fasteners. Since cost is not a consideration 
their requirement is both shear strength and ease of removal.

I dont know where you got the idea that CC uses inferior SS. Ive noticed no 
difference in other antenna as well as rotator companies when I used to do 
service calls for local hams. Ive broken them all over the decades if they 
werent put together with paste.

Carl
KM1H

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill W5WVO" <w5wvo at cybermesa.net>
To: <50mhz at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 11:25 PM
Subject: Re: [50mhz] cushcraft question

> Carl KM1H wrote:
>
>> Galling is common with stainless steel hardware. The coating compound
>> procedure has been around for deacdes, nothing new. Several antenna
>> companies even include a small tube of it.
>
> That is all true, including the fact that a number of antenna companies
> actually supply it with their antenna kits. Good idea! Cushcraft, however,
> is not one of those, unless they have changed their ways in the past 
> couple
> of years. And they do not (again, unless they have changed recently) 
> mention
> the phenomenon of thread galling in their assembly instructions and/or
> suggest how to prevent it.
>
> While thread galling is definitely more common in stainless steel than in
> other fastener materials like zinc plate etc., it is also true that 
> certain
> formulations of stainless steel tend to gall more readily than others. 
> There
> are a few papers available on the Web that document the galling tendencies
> of different grades of SS in quite a bit of scientific detail. See
> http://www.estainlesssteel.com/gallingofstainless.html for an excellent
> overview paper; google "stainless steel thread galling" for many other
> resources.
>
> Finally, a number of hams have told me that they have experienced galling
> with Cushcraft's SS fasteners more frequently than with other antenna
> manufacturers' SS fasteners over a period of many years. This, of course, 
> is
> anecdotal evidence, and is not scientifically meaningful -- but there it 
> is,
> FWIW.
>
> Bill W5WVO
>
>>
>> Ive been using Penetrox for about 30 years, buy it at electrical supply
>> houses.
>>
>> Carl
>> KM1H
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Bill W5WVO" <w5wvo at cybermesa.net>
>> To: <Greenacres113 at aol.com>; <50mhz at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 4:53 PM
>> Subject: Re: [50mhz] cushcraft question
>>
>>
>> > Metal galling (seizure) seems to be a common problem with Cushcraft
> stuff.
>> > I
>> > suspect it has something to do with the quality of metal they use in
> their
>> > fasteners and other non-aluminum parts. Having been badly burned by 
>> > this
>
>> > on
>> > a Cushcraft antenna (had to cut all the u-bolts off with a hacksaw), I
> now
>> > always use an anti-seize compound on all threads, especially on
> stainless
>> > steel fasteners. Penetrox is good, and is available from many ham radio
>> > dealers. Copper-based anti-seize compounds available in most auto parts
>> > stores has also worked fine for me, though I've heard some people
>> > recommend
>> > against using a copper-based compound around aluminum. Be careful on
>> > SO-239s
>> > that you carefully restrict it to the coupling threads, and don't let 
>> > it
>> > get
>> > into the body of the connector, as it is conductive.
>> >
>> > Bill W5WVO
>> >
>> > Greenacres113 at aol.com wrote:
>> >> i'm considering the Cushcraft  3 el.
>> >>
>> >> i've had two of their 11 el. 2 mtr fm antennas. both my dads  & mine
>> >> suffered coax connector seizure after a few yrs.  you can't get  the
>> >> pl259 off any
>> >> way. i cut the coax & fabricated a new plate with a new  s0239. it
>> >> was the only easy answer. i wonder if using 'no alox' or the common
>> >> electricians metal conduit helper will prevent the seizure.
>> >>
>> >> i've not had this problem on other antennas
>> >>
>> >> bob k9il
>> >> Moderator: Ray Brown, KB0STN
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>> >
>> > Moderator: Ray Brown, KB0STN
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>
>
> Moderator: Ray Brown, KB0STN
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