An alternative to the 6M7JHV antenna for 6m / 50MHz
Assembling the booms

Now to assemble the boom.

Cut a 250mm length of 1 3/8" 10swg tube for use as the boom joiner. I've only used one but you can split the boom down further if you wish.

1 3/8" 10swg tube for use as the boom joiners
(only one required for a single antenna)

The tube is slightly too large to fit inside of the 1 1/2" 16swg boom sections, so a bit has to be filed off each side next to the marks as shown in the photo below.

The four sides that need to be filed

The flat edge is around 8mm across for a smooth fit inside of the boom.

Four filed flats

The joiner pipe then snugly fits inside of the boom.

The joiner pipe when first inserted in the boom

Two holes are drilled 100mm either side of the boom join. These go through the back and front sections of the boom and only through the top of the boom support. When the first hole is drilled, pop a M6 screw in it so that the joiner does not move when the second hole is drilled!

Tip: Always use Vaseline on the screws before doing them up as this prevents the stainless steel screws possibly locking up!

Temporary bolt to prevent the joiner moving
 

Take the boom support off and drill the hole in the top out to 12mm. These will clear the nut of the M6 x 60mm bolts used to join the boom together.

Boom joiner clearance holes

Smear the joiner with anti-corrosion paste

The back and front boom sectioned joined together

The whole assembly can now be bolted together

The joiner, front & back boom sections and boom support bolted together

Finally, to finish the boom bang the end cap in on both ends of the boom.

The front end cap

Also insert caps into the both ends of the boom support.

The cap in the end of the boom support.