[amsat-bb] Re: Cheap LEO antennas

[Michael Tondee]

Joe Kononchik wrote:
> Does anyone know if PVC (Schedule 40) can be used as a substitute for wood?
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The white stuff can tend to get brittle out in the sun. Painting it will 
help with this somewhat. My 70cm antenna was modeled after the cheap 
yagi design and had a white PVC boom that had been painted gray. When 
lowering the mast to do some rotator maintenance the antenna brushed a 
nearby dogwood tree that the XYL refuses to let me cut down. The boom 
snapped right at one of the elements. This could have been brittleness 
or just the fact of where it struck.
I can't comment on the tan (CPVC) pipe as I haven't used it. My 
replacement antenna will be using schedule 80 which is gray in color and 
much more rigid for the boom.
73,
Michael, W4HIJ