Nate, All enviorments have their qurks. We all can find stories of an antenna that got smoked.
However, here with the salt air and a number of folded exposed dipoles get eaten up with the salt air. This aint one, but a number of them. Now we get 5 miles from the Gulf don't have the problem although a recently removed DB224 looked pretty sick. I've had 3 of the dual band Diamonds and one Comet last maybe 3 years before lightning completed toasted and blew them apart. They aint much of an antenna when it comes to construction with what looks like getar wire as a coil and cheap caps. 2 were low, 30 ft and 2 at 100 or so ft. All were top mounted. They do work well as antenna and don't cost $600, but would never put one at 1175 ft. I've seen fiber glass antennas, commerical like the super station master, last for 20 years in large substained bitter cold winds with small show of errotion?. This is common for them. All antennas have their pluses and minuses and one has to choice based on their situation like anything. 73, ron, n9ee/r >From: Nate Duehr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: 2007/09/04 Tue AM 12:11:15 CDT >To: [email protected] >Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Wal Mart effect makes it to the Communications >Hard (feed)-Line industry > > >On Sep 1, 2007, at 7:08 PM, Ron Wright wrote: > >> I've seen good fiberglass antennas last 20 or more years in harsh >> enviroments and still show much life left. > >Up here, above 10,000 MSL, the UV rays eat up the fiberglass and they >don't last any longer than 10 years, either. :-) > >That is... if they aren't turned into hundreds of little fiberglass >toothpicks by lightning, which usually gets them first. > >Side-mounted with a top stabilization arm, they last about as long as >the folded-dipole arrays. Without a stabilization arm (top-mounted) >they tear themselves up pretty quickly in 100 MPH+ winds at the >mountain-tops. > >> I think anything metal or antenna elements exposed will have >> electrical problems due to damage to the connections. Having >> inside something would at least keep out much of this. The >> fiberglass radom might deterate some, but the electrical elements >> would still be intact. Of course if there is leakage then the >> elements can get inside and do damage. > >Seen people here "de-fuzz" old fiberglass antennas by re-glassing >them, hand mitts, curing time, big mess. Not sure I'd want to mess >with it. > >> I am deffinitly not thinking of one of the Ham ventage antennas for >> their fiberglass is little more than paper, hi. > >I have a ham-type Comet up that's been up for about 10 years, last >time I touched it, it has a nice layer of fiberglass "dust" on it and >it's probably getting near the end of it's life... or past it. > >It's not in repeater service, it's one of their tri-band things with >the tuning stuff for 6m. Mostly it's just up there on the house as >another vertical stick with a little gain for when I need something >that's 22' in the air for whatever... not for duplex service. > >-- >Nate Duehr, WY0X >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Ron Wright, N9EE 727-376-6575 MICRO COMPUTER CONCEPTS Owner 146.64 repeater Tampa Bay, FL No tone, all are welcome.
