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MACO VQ3

Not around here. I've tried for over half a year. This go round will be steel chain link fence top rail.
 
Well let's see:
Push pole: Original Cost + now replacement
Antenna Cost : Now 150%+ of original Mfg. retail.

How long before you get to cost of couple/three sections of tower (using the largest of the sections of bent/destroyed pole for future mast)
You already know the rotor is going to fail !!!! (when it does/will it take antenna and or mast with it?)

Also think about this: Had the wind been from other direction: BIG HOLE in roof from boom or mast!!! (We both know how XYL would have felt about that!!)
That happened to me, when my 54ft tower came down and drove the boom of my MOSLEY antenna thru the roof of my barn:(:mad:.
All I am stating is the design and set-up for your beam needs some overall.
The push-up pole needs size increased...need guys(at least 3/120 degs apart/below rotor)…rotor upgrade....and evaluating this antenna's design vs. location and mounting options.

Personally I would convert that "Albatross" antenna to a 4 element Horizontal Yagi.
IMHO would improve sig/plus reduce wind and structure load …
Again just me.
Good Luck
All the Best
Gary
 
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Wife said no tower no guy wires all over the place so that's that. There is no other place to mount it. Not an option due to neighbors and power lines. Will be using 4 steel chain link fence top rails in 2x2 format with them strapped together except for just enough for the rotor to fit on the top of one set. Will be somewhat equivalent to 2/3 of tower lol. 2 sections will be 13 gauge pipe and 2 sections reinforcement pipe 15 gauge so as to fit combined to the same mount that did not fail right to the house. All I can do. The Max 2000 that dirnt come down is on that 13 gauge. Its not an ideal setup
but not the hill Im going to die on with the wife.
If it does go through the roof at least I'll be able to say I told ya so.
High dollar stuff is great when you got the bread to waste and a wife that hasnt run out of tolerance. Sometimes just have to redneck it and make the best of what fate gives you.
 
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Sad news. The VQ3 is no more. We had a small tornado just now and it bent the steel push up pole greater than 90deg and hammered the VQ3 into my backyard.
Elements are snapped off surprisingly the rotor held. I'll get pictures in the morning.
Sad days. Never even got a chance to really use it.
Another rebuilding project I didn't need.
Please note the Chinesium rotor did NOT fail or snap! Shocking actually.
Spoke to Tom at Maco and he will sell me all the replacement parts I need so that's a blessing but an unwelcome expense for sure. Wife isnt too pleased either landed on her plants.


Just an observation. And maybe some info to help with the rebuild.

If it was a tornado, your Imax and your wife's flowers would be torn up and they aren't. There are no obvious strike marks on the boom, rotor, or mast which would be there if hit by a plane landing. They are intact.

The culprit seems to have been wind. A freak gust, sustained, etc.

Think about it. The VQ3 has a windload factor, the rotor has a windload factor, they both have weight. Whatever the combined windload is, it is way, way more than what that pushup pole is rated for unguyed.

It looks like the wind is coming from the front of your house; ideally, you would want to have two guy points in the front corners of your yard, and then the third one back the direction your antenna is pointing. But if your wife absolutely will not allow it, then you are going to have to use something much stouter.

For a non-guyed solution, a single ~20', large diameter, 1/4" minimum wall pipe or tube is the only thing that will be able to handle the combined windload.

Something like this or what ever the largest diameter that your Chinese rotor can handle. Your bracket on the side of the house can probably handle 2.5".

https://shop.galloup.com/buy/produc...96934?ID=/Black-Standard-and-XH-Pipe/dept-W02

P.S. Painting the pipe white will probably help with the wife, I know it did with mine. Happy wife = Happy life.
 
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It was something odd.
I cannot say as was 2130 hours in a storm and there was a sudden roaring and the house shook a little bit and the animals went under the bed.
Could it have been freak straightline wind sure. Could have been small tornado.
The last of that we had that blew my old fence down was the opposite direction to what happened to the masting. We don't have perpetual wind here.
Random direction freak gusts are possible.
That's some beefy pipe. But some good stuff for sure. I'll see what's available locally.
 
So shes still a little bent up up and needs some tweaking from the last fall.
BUT the new double poles held in 60-70mph sustained high winds we had from the hurricane in the gulf.
Was dancing all over the place I thought it was over but it held. Just have to get her down straighten some bits amd recalIbrate the rotor. Oh and the heavy darling works.
I was slamming Alaska and the NW and NE corners on it before the storms hit.
Some guys thought I was on a much bigger beam. If weight isnt an issue this triple delta kicks some DX!
 
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Have a QV3 Maco 3 eliment V quad. Great performer to Europe, the islands and all over the US. I have it 11 feet off he ground on a guided tripod. I’m happy.
 
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Was enjoying mine but storm took it down (not fault of antenna itself ) and need to straighten the elements again and rewire the pl259 and just been slammed with other things. It's a great antenna when working lol
 

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