[ARDF]2m Antenna Safety

[Kenneth E. Harker]

On Fri, Oct 14, 2005 at 06:07:41PM -0400, Matthew Robbins wrote:
> About 3 minutes after my start on the 2m course in Albuquerque, I
> bumped my antenna on a tree and drove it, a solid hit, into the right
> lens of my glasses.  If I wasn't wearing glasses, it's likely I'd have
> lost the eye.  It certainly would've involved a trip to the hospital.
> 
> I'm going to a 2m event in the morning, and my number 1 priority
> tonight is to make my elements more eyesafe than they are now.
> 
> I kept forgetting to write this e-mail, but I was cleaning my glasses
> today, and I (again) noticed the marks on the lens.
> 
> I was using a tape-measure beam, but the way did it was related more
> to the length of the element rather than the material.  Since all our
> antennas are about the same size, please take a look at your element
> tips and fix them if they need it.

Our tape measure yagi elements are coated in Plasti-Dip(R):

http://www.plastidip.com/consumer/products.html
http://www.wm5r.org/photos/2004_ardf_yagis/2004_ardf_yagis_0019_t.jpg

It took five or six dips to get enough coating around the edges, but 
other than that, I really like the results.  We dipped the elements before
assembling the yagi.

-- 
Kenneth E. Harker WM5R
kenharker at kenharker.com
http://www.kenharker.com/