Hello Jimmie D:

Well the Moonraker 4 and 6 element beams where a great design for the
hardware to get real cheap for production. The Hubs that attached the
Elements to the Boom are made from Cast Aluminum. Real cheap to
manufacture, but in time they break and crack making the Moonraker Beams
useless. I had new Hubs made from 6061 T6 Billet Aluminum made from a
CNC Mill. Now the Hubs are bullet proof. But expensive!

But the problem for manufacturing something using large quantities of
materials is always been a design art.

Jay in the Mojave


Jimmie D wrote:


The moonraker is a pretty decent antenna but like a lot of CB
antennas the manufctures were trying to sell elements. They stuff as
many elements as they can on a boom that is still UPS shipable. I
remember back in the 70s how a few people would claim that ther e3
element beam was better than the 4 they used to have and now I
believe they may have been right. I extended the boom on mine and
respaced the elements vertical for 11M and horizontal for 10. Any way
I guess the point I was trying to make to start with before I rambled
is that my Al tubing and coax gamma match easily handles a full KW on
10. Why cant the manufacturers make something that is so easy to
make? At the risk of appearing to answer my own question I think it
was because if they did consumers would realize you can go down to
the hardware store and buy the parts and roll your own about as easy
as you can build thiers out of the box.

I dont remember the hubs like that. The ones I had were fastened on with
Muffler clamps on the boom and them cable clamps held the elements to the
muffler clamps.


"Jay in the Mojave" wrote in message
...
Hello Jimmie D:

Well the Moonraker 4 and 6 element beams where a great design for the
hardware to get real cheap for production. The Hubs that attached the
Elements to the Boom are made from Cast Aluminum. Real cheap to
manufacture, but in time they break and crack making the Moonraker Beams
useless. I had new Hubs made from 6061 T6 Billet Aluminum made from a
CNC Mill. Now the Hubs are bullet proof. But expensive!

But the problem for manufacturing something using large quantities of
materials is always been a design art.

Jay in the Mojave


Jimmie D wrote:


The moonraker is a pretty decent antenna but like a lot of CB
antennas the manufctures were trying to sell elements. They stuff as
many elements as they can on a boom that is still UPS shipable. I
remember back in the 70s how a few people would claim that ther e3
element beam was better than the 4 they used to have and now I
believe they may have been right. I extended the boom on mine and
respaced the elements vertical for 11M and horizontal for 10. Any way
I guess the point I was trying to make to start with before I rambled
is that my Al tubing and coax gamma match easily handles a full KW on
10. Why cant the manufacturers make something that is so easy to
make? At the risk of appearing to answer my own question I think it
was because if they did consumers would realize you can go down to
the hardware store and buy the parts and roll your own about as easy
as you can build thiers out of the box.

Hello Jimmie D:

Ok the Moonraker series beams used a clam shell type Hub that had two of
the same Hub haves, that bolted together to hold the 4 elements. A 1/4
bolt then squeezed the hub opening to close against the Boom. The
manufacturing of these Hubs had to be real cheap as it was Cast Aluminum
that if over torque or got to old, would crack then break. Great to keep
the manufacturing costs down, but not good for reliability. I'll bet a
lot of good antennas have been thrown out over the poorly designed Hubs.

Look at http://www.cbtricks.com for the Moonraker assembly instructions.

The custom Billet Moonraker Hubs I had made, stirred up a lot of
interest until the they heard the cost of the material and machining
costs. If you want to play U got to pay!

I think the Wilson Line, now MaCo line uses Muffler Clamps to mount the
four elements. Which is a good call, as it can be reused without being
damaged. And doesn't require bullet proof 6061 T6 Aluminum Bar Stock and
expensive CNC machining.

Jay in the Mojave

Jimmie D wrote:

I dont remember the hubs like that. The ones I had were fastened on with
Muffler clamps on the boom and them cable clamps held the elements to the
muffler clamps.


"Jay in the Mojave" wrote in message
...

Hello Jimmie D:

Well the Moonraker 4 and 6 element beams where a great design for the
hardware to get real cheap for production. The Hubs that attached the
Elements to the Boom are made from Cast Aluminum. Real cheap to
manufacture, but in time they break and crack making the Moonraker Beams
useless. I had new Hubs made from 6061 T6 Billet Aluminum made from a
CNC Mill. Now the Hubs are bullet proof. But expensive!

But the problem for manufacturing something using large quantities of
materials is always been a design art.

Jay in the Mojave


Jimmie D wrote:


The moonraker is a pretty decent antenna but like a lot of CB
antennas the manufctures were trying to sell elements. They stuff as
many elements as they can on a boom that is still UPS shipable. I
remember back in the 70s how a few people would claim that ther e3
element beam was better than the 4 they used to have and now I
believe they may have been right. I extended the boom on mine and
respaced the elements vertical for 11M and horizontal for 10. Any way
I guess the point I was trying to make to start with before I rambled
is that my Al tubing and coax gamma match easily handles a full KW on
10. Why cant the manufacturers make something that is so easy to
make? At the risk of appearing to answer my own question I think it
was because if they did consumers would realize you can go down to
the hardware store and buy the parts and roll your own about as easy
as you can build thiers out of the box.

When I rebuilt mine I replaced the existing mufflerclamps with SS hardware,
a good idea on any antenna or lawn equipment IMO. You have to be careful
though and not put SS next to galvanized or you make for a worse corrosion
problem. The U bolts were easy to find but the brackets had to be
fabricated. I think these are probably easy to find these days with the
popularity of SS exhaust systems.

"Jay in the Mojave" wrote in message
...
Hello Jimmie D:

Ok the Moonraker series beams used a clam shell type Hub that had two of
the same Hub haves, that bolted together to hold the 4 elements. A 1/4
bolt then squeezed the hub opening to close against the Boom. The
manufacturing of these Hubs had to be real cheap as it was Cast Aluminum
that if over torque or got to old, would crack then break. Great to keep
the manufacturing costs down, but not good for reliability. I'll bet a lot
of good antennas have been thrown out over the poorly designed Hubs.

Look at http://www.cbtricks.com for the Moonraker assembly instructions.

The custom Billet Moonraker Hubs I had made, stirred up a lot of interest
until the they heard the cost of the material and machining costs. If you
want to play U got to pay!

I think the Wilson Line, now MaCo line uses Muffler Clamps to mount the
four elements. Which is a good call, as it can be reused without being
damaged. And doesn't require bullet proof 6061 T6 Aluminum Bar Stock and
expensive CNC machining.

Jay in the Mojave

Jimmie D wrote:

I dont remember the hubs like that. The ones I had were fastened on with
Muffler clamps on the boom and them cable clamps held the elements to the
muffler clamps.


"Jay in the Mojave" wrote in message
...

Hello Jimmie D:

Well the Moonraker 4 and 6 element beams where a great design for the
hardware to get real cheap for production. The Hubs that attached the
Elements to the Boom are made from Cast Aluminum. Real cheap to
manufacture, but in time they break and crack making the Moonraker Beams
useless. I had new Hubs made from 6061 T6 Billet Aluminum made from a
CNC Mill. Now the Hubs are bullet proof. But expensive!

But the problem for manufacturing something using large quantities of
materials is always been a design art.

Jay in the Mojave


Jimmie D wrote:


The moonraker is a pretty decent antenna but like a lot of CB
antennas the manufctures were trying to sell elements. They stuff as
many elements as they can on a boom that is still UPS shipable. I
remember back in the 70s how a few people would claim that ther e3
element beam was better than the 4 they used to have and now I
believe they may have been right. I extended the boom on mine and
respaced the elements vertical for 11M and horizontal for 10. Any way
I guess the point I was trying to make to start with before I rambled
is that my Al tubing and coax gamma match easily handles a full KW on
10. Why cant the manufacturers make something that is so easy to
make? At the risk of appearing to answer my own question I think it
was because if they did consumers would realize you can go down to
the hardware store and buy the parts and roll your own about as easy
as you can build thiers out of the box.

From: (Telstar*Electronics)
Please give me your ideas for a name for this developing product...
www.telstar-electronics.com

-
The Oralator. Now let's talk about you purchasing the rights to my
brilliant concept.