CushCraft 13B2 2m Yagi - Will I Be Able To Assemble This Thing!

[@jamesbrown-m5q]

Darrell, on every gamma match I have seen, and i have made a few from scratch, the shorting bar, or strap, is always in contact throughout. Meaning, continuity between all connections... so, I am not sure if that will work with the electrical tape insulation. Just my .02.... but maybe you will prove me wrong! I have an earlier "boomer" model, from the 1980's, with same amount of elements and has the old 3-element reflector design. Works great, and i use it on 2m SSB. The older models are SO much better made.... its a shame that for that money, you have to do you own fabricating to get things correct.....bummer. I likely would have done what you did....but that's me. I am more hands on, like you... 73, WD9M

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I think I'd like to get into making my own antennas in the future. Now that I have the tower up, I can do more experimenting. Thank you for the comment.

[@tomstrum6259]

At 06:50, T--Matches Don't typically use any Element to Element "Capacitor" slip-joint Insulators or tape...It's usually All DC continuity except at the Terminal connection Ends....You may Not get the expected good VSWR with all that Insulation Tape there..

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

After I called them, I removed the tape and did a bit of study on antenna yagi design. I've been thinking about make my own 2m yagi and use it for ssb. Thank you again for the comments.

[@tomstrum6259]

At 10:00 Did you check that your Bolt part 120 is Actually a 8--32 (0.164") screw diameter size ?? .... What Diameter was the Factory hole diameter before you 0versized them ? .... With that Original size hole already leaving so Little material, I would have just used Smaller diameter screws....

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I did measure them, but I don't recall the size now. I also verified that were the correct size that should have been in the parts list. They just drilled that wrong size hole. I thought about using smaller hardware, but it would have been under sized. Thank you for the comment.

[@tomstrum6259]

No good reason for any Mis--Drilled holes on any Round tubing antenna parts...Absolute perfection isn't expected, but the Factory should use a Precision jig to Assure Correctly Positioned holes....Looks like your holes were just Hand/Eyeballed drilled....

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I agree that they should be using a jig to drill these holes. I didn't expect that I would run into this issue. Thank you for the comment.

[@hamtalker2007]

Mfj bought cushcraft so there you go guantity vs guality

[@Darrell_Coquillette]

I hope they do a better job then the one I got. Thank you for the comment.