Quad wire elements picture

The spreaders on the 5 band Quad have a considerable amount of wind loading-- as you can tell from this picture. The secret of the LB Quad is the unique wire holders that allow the aluminum welding wire to move around on the spreaders. This Quad has survived many wind storms of over 100 mph without any damage since being installed in Aug of 2005. Two of the wire holders are shown sitting next to the roll of welding wire. Also shown are the spiders that hold the fiberglass spreaders. And the special balun that matches the 120 ohm Quad to 50 ohm coax. The alum welding wire can only be attached to the balun using stainless screws in order to prevent corrosion. The alum wire will compress very easily so you need to experiment with the torque of the screws to prevent the wire from being crushed. If you apply too much torque and crush the wire, the wire will break easily when flexed at that point. The aluminum welding wire is a great idea to keep the weight and wind loading of the Quad low but you need to take precautions when tightening the attachment screws. Once I found the correct nut tension, I locked the nut in position with a jam nut. Proof that I had it right is that since 2005 this Quad has had to endure 3 or 4 big wind storms each year --- winds of over 100 mph. Here along Lake Osoyoos, the big winds come out of the Canadian North and can occur at any time of year.
There are more pictures of the special wire holders later in the Blog.