I'm a big fan of the Jackite fiberglass poles for portable antenna supports. I have two of them have have seen a lot of use over the years. Here are a couple of quick and simple hacks that improve (in my opinion) on an already great product.

Keeping the Cap From Falling Off

While the overall quality of Jackite's products is excellent, there is one thing that I find annoying -- the caps have a tendency to fall off, when transporting the pole. To overcome this, I attached a velcro strap to the cap (Figure 1). The Velco is something I had on hand in my junkbox. It's about 8 inches long by 1 inch wide. I used a #4 machine screw with some flat washers, a lock washer and a nut (Figure 2). I used an awl and a small phillips screw driver to make the hole in the cap. I then attached two Velcro strips (the fuzzy part) on either side of the pole (Figure 3). When transporting the pole, just secure the Velcro straps (Figure 4) and you're good-to-go.

Easy Extension

This quick mod might seem kinda pointless to some users. In fact, I hestitated about writing it up. Anyway, you be the judge:

In cases when I need to bungee or strap the pole to a fixed support, I would first need to extend the top-most section first. This is because the top section sits down inside the other sections, when collapsed. What I did was attach a key ring (aka split ring) to the eyelet on the top section (Figure 5). The ring I used is approximately 7/8-inch in diameter. So, I can strap the collapsed pole to a support, remove the cap, reach in and use the ring to pull the top section out (Figure 6).

Again, you might not see the value in this one, but I find it helpful.

73, Craig WB3GCK

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Fig 1 - Velco attached to cap

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Fig 2 - Inside of cap

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Fig 3 - Velco on pole

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Fig 4 - Cap attached to pole

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Fig 5 - Key ring attached

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Fig 6 - Key ring with pole collapsed

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