Rebuilding 15 and
by ik3umt
Have you ever seen an HF9V after strong winds action
??
15 and 6 mt wire stubs , originally well tight and parallel
to radiator, are overstretched by its bending action so they become slack,
loose , when stylus returns to its vertical position.
If, from a functional point of view this can lead to
detuning due to close spacing between wire and stylus, aesthetically speaking
it has a flabby aspect, surely not deserving for your installation.
It doesn’t matter how tight supporting clamps and
straps are locked, also with a different mechanical approach they would be bent
with traction.
Contextually with groundplane upgrade,
I’ve used this solution :
Stubs are no more to be bound or fixed in many points
but only connected to the highest clamp.
How to keep conductor tight ?
Using a rigid conductor.
I chose a 2mm diameter stainless steel rod , top
locked by mean of a drilled bolt and kept spaced by home made polyethylene
spacers.
These ones are 6mm drilled so rod is free to slide
without mechanical constraints.
Rod weight keep itself stretched and intrinsic material
rigidity both with its flexibility gives always the perfect shape after any
bending also.
As rods are not coated (change in velocity factor) they need to be slightly longer than original wires, start about 10-12 inches more to be trimmed for tuning.
Photos give better the idea of solution.
For any doubt or info feel free to contact me at ik3umt@ir3ip.net
73 de Federico
Ik3umt
