8 ft BOOM BEING ATTACHED TO THE 9FT MAST

The 8ft long Lightning Bolt heavy duty boom was attached to the 9ft mast while the 27ft Glen Martin roof tower was only 5 feet off the deck. After the LB boom was secured to the mast, it was tipped up high enough to allow one spreader to be attached while standing on a 12ft heavy duty ladder. After the first spreader was attached, the tower was raised high enough to allow the rotator to be rotated 180 degs. Then the tower was lowered to again allow the other spreader to be attached. this method of assembly was used in order to allow the entire assembly at ground level. No climbing was necessary. I had attached a chain hoist to a support pole in order to allow the tower to be raised or lowered easily.

A neighbors View of the 2 ele Quad

The 2 ele Quad is a rather large assembly and the neighbors will take notice of it immediatley. I took this picture from the next door neighbors back yard. Fortunately, my next door neighbors brother is also an active ham radio opr :-) And has tolerance for his ham radio opr neighbor :-)

Also visible is the Steppir Big IR vertical on the roof. Frank W7is

Special Wire Holders

The secret to the LB Quad is the special wire holders that allow the welding wire to move freely around the spreaders in high winds. This prevents the wires from breaking and also allows the wire to be easily tensioned correctly. The 5 band 2 ele quad requires 40 of these special wire holders. Apparently they are made out of piece parts from hydraulic brake assemblies. A very unique and I must say, outstanding idea for holding the wires in place.

Quad being tiped into position on the deck

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.

Finished Quad on a 27ft Glen Martin Tower

The LB 5 band 2 ele Quad pointing northeast towards Europe. Even though the terrain has rolling hills as high as 2000 ft, the quad take off angle across Lake Osoyoos is excellent and the performance is outstanding.