Well, it took me only three hours to completely disassemble and remove my tower this morning; I was lucky the rain kept off in a very unstable atmosphere.
After this, it was time to disassemble the Innovantennas 24MHz LFA after seven years in the windy, salty sea air. It might be useful for others considering an Innovantennas Yagi to learn of my experience in taking things apart.
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| History now - all dismantled this morning. |
Firstly, the antenna has, as I've often documented, taken a complete and utter beating from the weather. It had to stay permanently up for over four years to qualify for planning consent outside of the normal application process. Even in the sting jet of Storm Doris, where winds topped 137km/h, the LFA kept flying confidently.
I had, as is recommended, smeared conductive grease on the element parts that slide inside others. The securing is done with small stainless steel hose clamps. All these, without exception, operated flawlessly on removal. Of course, I used oil spray to ensure the best performance.
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| Used 12m LFA, anyone? Look at those Stauff clamps - almost like new! |
Each element came away from the others as though I had just installed them. I colour coded everything for whomever eventually takes it away from me; I don't think I'll ever bother with a tower and Yagi again - they are rather unnecessary in today's digital modes environment.
What very much surprised me was the lack of any evident decay in the 'Stauff' clamps used to secure the elements to the boom. Though clearly very heavy density plastic, the constant exposure to strong sunglight did worry me about needing replacements after a few years. In fact, not only do they seem just as strong as when installed, but they haven't lost much of their green colour, either - despite the 7 years of UV.
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| Not very happy with these. Too narrow, and poor quality metal. |
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| The weak metal allowed for significant deformation. |
The only criticism I have was about the gripper components of the boom-to-mast clamp. Absolutely everything else on the antenna is either aluminium or stainless steel. But the clamp grippers are either plain steel or poorly galvanised steel. Accordingly, they had not only rusted - although not critically - but also splayed outward. To be honest, they are also a little bit too narrow; a wider gripper would make for a better grip and a better spread of the forces; the antenna did once slip as a hurricane-force wind approached, needing considerable tightening-up to avoid a repeat.
So, if you are wondering what I think of the Innovantennas Yagis, all I can say is that they are very good indeed!
