Satcom Trivec 2055 Antenna help please ?......

[fires999]

Hi Forum,
Hope everybody is doing ok, wonder if someone can help please ?
I have a Trivec Avant 2055 Satcom Antenna (The one that fits into a case that is no bigger than a sports water bottle !!!)
The antenna mounts on a fold up tripod ,with legs on bungee chord like material for it to be rigid however one of the 3 legs is missing the bottom component - its the 2nd part of the leg that springs out and makes 1 of 3 of the leg bases.

Any ideas where I could find either a replacement tripod for this exact model or if someone has same antenna in a broken state that I could cannibalise ?
Any ideas or suggestions please let me know
Link below for an image (sorry,link is huge!!!) :

Redirect Notice

Thanks again in advance,
Fires999, Kevin

 

[VE2XWA]

Leading Solutions for World's Critical Missions | Cobham AES (caes.com)

You can order the parts, they have a minimum charge of 300$ USD per order.

Dan

 

[fires999]

Dan and rest of Forum,
Evening , sorry for delay in reply , exercise on Base has "sucked"up any free time I normally have !!!
Appreciate the info , will see if they can help.
Stay safe , thanks again for taking the time to help me out,
Have a good weekend,
Kev - fires999

 

[N1XDS]

Oops already answered by someone in a previous reply my mistake.. Thank you for your service.

 

[PACNWDude]

The military considers the Trivec AV-2040 series antennas to be "XB3" items, or non-repairable according to the supply system. Therefore, many of them come up on auction sites as for parts, or at military surplus auctions and sites as part pieces. They may also come up with everything intact, to include coax with BNC connectos, carry bags, nylon/Velcro straps and other items.

I once tried to get them listed as repairable, but realized that with the springs and cable under tension, someon was more likely to get hurt instead. Even though Trivec considered them repairable and had guides to show how.

Online auction sites will get that cost down should you go that route, buy a complete or used one for parts.

 

[prcguy]

The only reasonable way to get repair parts for the OPs Trivec Avant 2055 is to buy a broken one on Ebay that has the needed part. Trivec Avant used to be easier to deal with but they have been bought up by larger companies over the years and I think it would be difficult for an individual, especially one outside the US to purchase parts from them.

Quick story, many years ago I purchased a perfect looking Trivec Avant 2040 series antenna and it turned out to be trashed, it had nearly infinite VSWR and it didn't receive anything. I was working for Hughes Aircraft at the time and called Trivec as a Hughes employee to discuss the problem. They wanted a purchase order or similar for me to send the antenna in and I told them that would not be possible and that I would probably just cut it apart to see what failed then throw it away.

Trivec asked for the serial number which I gave them and a little while later they called me very concerned asking where I got the antenna. I told them it was just part of our inventory and it could have come from a number of our "customers". Since Trivec was fairly local to me they said just send it in and they would evaluate it at no cost. I took the next day off and drove it to the factory. I got the red carpet tour of the factory, engineering lab and antenna range, met many of the engineers and upper management and left the antenna with them. That was a really great day!

About a week later they shipped the rebuilt antenna to my work at no cost and I believe the internal 3dB hybrid coupler and possibly load were replaced. They would not tell me who the original customer but the surplus dealer I bought it from said it might have come from Ft Monmouth where it may have gone through destructive testing for some project. Anyway, those were the good old days when Trivec was a small independent company and would work with you. Probably not going to happen these days.

 

[fires999]

Morning Everyone,
Once again , thankyou all for taking time to reply , the advice and options are invaluable. The auction route for the same antenna but possibly being offered as broken but my bit is ok seems perfect , will put out some feelers.
Wow , what a great story on the Trivec factory tour etc...I could only wish !!!
Anyway fingers crossed and hopefully out there somewhere is an antenna with working legs that I could use.........
Be safe everyone & speak soon
fires999 -Kevin at a wet and windy USAF Base here in the East of England

 

[prcguy]

If your antenna is working ok and its just a tripod bit missing, you could probably sell it and buy a complete similar unit for just a little more. I probably have several similar units here I should put on the auction site.

Morning Everyone,
Once again , thankyou all for taking time to reply , the advice and options are invaluable. The auction route for the same antenna but possibly being offered as broken but my bit is ok seems perfect , will put out some feelers.
Wow , what a great story on the Trivec factory tour etc...I could only wish !!!
Anyway fingers crossed and hopefully out there somewhere is an antenna with working legs that I could use.........
Be safe everyone & speak soon
fires999 -Kevin at a wet and windy USAF Base here in the East of England

 

[fires999]

Morning prcguy,
Antenna is in great working order , really clean & assembles/disassembles perfectly (apart from that1 leg !!)
Has a really clean camo - style carry holdall - I'm amazed it all fits into such a compact unit !!
You may be onto something , however the issue I do come up against s when I have found what I'm looking for , only twice , the sellers state they can't send to me either because they are in the US or because I'm in the UK - does that make sense ?prohibited from leaving/entering the opposed countries ? Or maybe they both didn't want the hassle of sending overseas..I understand that.
Thanks,
fires999

 

[prcguy]

There are US laws restricting the export of surplus military communications equipment, its very similar to exporting a firearm. Basically any radio that was owned by the US Government at any time comes under these laws and if I were to send you a 1960s vintage PRC-25 manpack without submitting the paperwork to the US government and waiting for approval, I would be in a lot of trouble if the goods were discovered by customs on the way out of the US. I have friends that have made this mistake and it was very expensive and they were put on probation for at least 5yrs and could not travel outside the US among other things.

Morning prcguy,
Antenna is in great working order , really clean & assembles/disassembles perfectly (apart from that1 leg !!)
Has a really clean camo - style carry holdall - I'm amazed it all fits into such a compact unit !!
You may be onto something , however the issue I do come up against s when I have found what I'm looking for , only twice , the sellers state they can't send to me either because they are in the US or because I'm in the UK - does that make sense ?prohibited from leaving/entering the opposed countries ? Or maybe they both didn't want the hassle of sending overseas..I understand that.
Thanks,
fires999