[NLRS] VB28FM EyeBolts??

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

On Sat, 2006-12-09 at 01:17 -0600, KBØNLY wrote:
<SNIP>
> 
> PS: You would think a man could find something as simple as an eyebolt that 
> is both stainless steel and has a inside eye diameter of 3/16", but 
> noooooooo, nobody makes them, sells them, or even know what I am talking 
> about when I call them.  Grrr... Once this antenna is done and up I swear to 
> god I won't buy anything Hy-Gain again.  Now I wish I would have saved for 
> another half year or whatever it would have taken to get the 10el Cushcraft 
> from Universal for $89.95.  Try to save a few bucks after spending nearly 
> $650 in the last couple months on stuff for the tower and take a swift kick 
> in the rear doing so.
> 
> 
Bending a wire to a circle with ID equal the wire diameter is hard.
Works best only when glowing hot. Otherwise it cracks and you loose
strength. Or you start with a bolt with a head smashed flat and you
drill. From McMaster both designs cost several bucks an eyebolt.

The Hygain antenna design is schlock. The element is supported for
uplift only at a line and its easy to partly shear the element when
tightening the nut on the ubolt. Have you seen a HyGain at a Central
States VHF antenna measuring lately?

As for crumcraft, that's all I'll say. HyGain and crumcraft have lead
the barrage of exaggerated gain claims and still are producing junk
designs from 40 years ago that miss the gain claims by 5 dB.

The last crumcrafts around here shed their elements, half an element at
a time.

The good beams are from M2, Directive Systems and  Ariane
Arrays http://www.ariane-arrays.com/ I like the feed of the M2 a bit
better for standing up to rain, snow, and ice but they all work as
advertised unlike those from HyGain and crumcraft. And the ones I've
bought have arrived with spare element mounting parts not short, though
the last one from Directive systems had 1/4" ubolts and 5/16" ubolt
nuts. Fortunately SS nuts are easy to find locally.
-- 
73, Jerry, K0CQ,
All content copyright Dr. Gerald N. Johnson, electrical engineer