This method works well and many of us making VHF Quads/Quagis have been doing this since the 80's. But why go to the expense of Fiberglass tubes - we use thick wall UV-PVC with a wooden down inside to stiffen giving it much strength.
I use PVC w/wood for the Quad boom and vehicle Mast for "T" hunting. Trust me, high vehicle speeds and low tree limb grabbers we find during a southern California T-Hunt is very stressful to any vehicle antenna/mast above the hole in our vehicle roof. Some of us use Gorilla-Glue as a filler between the dowel and PVC (as Gorilla-glue expands making a solid fit).
I use 1.25" PVC sched-80 w/wood for my SAT antenna cross-member boom - keeping it non-conduction/metal free to insure no skewing of the directional lobes within the field pattern. Best regards, Dale Kubichek, MS-EET, N6JSX Sidney, OH 45365 EN70vh
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HAM-SATs http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RDF-USA Message: 3 Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2016 06:04:55 -0500 From: Alan [email protected] To: "'AMSAT -BB'" [email protected] Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Fiberglass Poles for Antenna Mounting? Message-ID: [email protected]
Another trick for strengthening fiberglass tubing is to get wood round stock at Lowes or Home Depot that will just fit inside the tubing. Years ago I found something which was a perfect friction fit, though obviously it depends on the tubing. Cut the wood about 2" shorter than the tubing, and center it leaving a 1" space at each end. I stood the tubing on end, and filled the top with RTV. After it hardened, I reversed the tubing and repeated the process. The result was lighter than a solid fiberglass rod, waterproof, and lasted for 15 years until the whole thing came down in a windstorm. 73s, Alan WA4SCA