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Posted: 10/4/2015 7:41:25 PM EDT
[#1]
Bad lightning arrestor, bad connection, tuner failed, squirrel ate your coax, could be anything. Have you visibly inspected everything?
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Posted: 10/4/2015 7:43:00 PM EDT
[#2]
Failed relay in the AH-4?
That happened to my LDG. It would find a lock on some and not others. |
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Posted: 10/4/2015 7:43:23 PM EDT
[#3]
Has it been raining there?
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Posted: 10/4/2015 8:21:25 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Has it been raining there? My question also. I got some RF back into my keyer a few times when its raining. Anything over 60 watts output in CW mode would hang the keyer & lose connection with computer. Made a simple choke with snap on ferrite cores & some loops. That took care of it. I have a 1:1 current balun at feed point, but that didn't stop the RF. Dry conditions it never happened. |
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Posted: 10/4/2015 8:24:50 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Has it been raining there? Yes but it stopped a couple days ago. |
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Posted: 10/4/2015 8:26:20 PM EDT
[#6]
Right now my guess is there is corrosion in the mast.
A 43' DXE vertical is kind of a telescoping affait held together with stainless hose clamps. |
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Posted: 10/4/2015 8:58:42 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Right now my guess is there is corrosion in the mast. A 43' DXE vertical is kind of a telescoping affait held together with stainless hose clamps. That would be my guess as well. Before winter hits, take it down and clean & treat all joints with penetrox. Take a before and after SWR measurement to confirm. If that doesn't produce the desired results, you likely have a water leak in your Coax. |
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Posted: 10/4/2015 9:26:18 PM EDT
[#8]
Water in your coax? If its buried then water may have migrated into it.
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Posted: 10/5/2015 12:32:48 PM EDT
[#9]
Something must have dried up.
Center of ALL bands now is 1:1 Frustrating. The vertical comes down and gets treated. |
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Posted: 10/6/2015 9:37:58 AM EDT
[#10]
Update.
I took it down and started examining it and saw that it was about 3' too short! One of the tubes telescoped somehow. Early stages of rebuilding I see no signs of corrosion. |
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Posted: 10/6/2015 10:17:41 AM EDT
[#11]
I broke the mast into 2 sections for ease of handling and have already dis and reassembled 2 sections.
No corrosion. When I 'greased' and reassembled the 2 sections I black taped them together before putting the clamp on as a means of protecting the joints from weather. Incidentally when I removed the bottom section from the base a LOT of water came out. I'll drill a small hole somewhere to prevent this from happening again as no telling what would happen if it froze come winter. I'll be updating as I go along as I will be in and out all day. |
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Posted: 10/6/2015 11:11:51 AM EDT
[#12]
You know it would split the tubing. Good deal, drilling a weep hole. It can get water in there both from leakage
above and condensation. Letting it breath is good. My periodic problem this time of year is Confederate Jasmine reaching up and wrapping around one end of the 75 meter elements of my fan dipole. You can see the tendrils reaching for it. I don't know how that vine does it, but it does. And a real mess to trim. White sticky sap... like Elmer's glue, gets all over you. I spray the loppers with cooking spray before I start so it won't gum up the works. |
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Posted: 10/6/2015 1:16:36 PM EDT
[#13]
Actually the bottom tube fits in to some kind of Kevlar(?) cylinder.
I'm going to Dremel a small groove in it instead of a weep hole. I think that would be a little better. |
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Posted: 10/6/2015 1:19:11 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Actually the bottom tube fits in to some kind of Kevlar(?) cylinder. I'm going to Dremel a small groove in it instead of a weep hole. I think that would be a little better. Incidentally I do believe that the bottom tube filling with water had something to do with the original problem. I ought to grease the entire thing to keep ice from sticking and to make the radio waves slip of it faster so I can make more QSOs in less time. Off to the hardware store for another hose clamp. I screwed one up along the line somehow. |
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Posted: 10/6/2015 2:09:28 PM EDT
[#15]
OMG!!! Drilling a hole at the bottom of the antenna will let all the positively charged electrons leak out! They create a HUGE mess in the yard.
Is getting a low SWR (Standing Water Reservoir) really the goal? 
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Posted: 10/6/2015 2:38:13 PM EDT
[#16]
3' shorter would be better from an antenna pattern perspective. 43' is too tall for 20m and anything higher... 3' shorter would improve the 20m performance.
If you're using an auto tuner at the base, nothing in the antenna itself changed your tuned SWR - it would have to be either the tuner, or the feedline to the tuner. |
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Posted: 10/6/2015 3:50:28 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
If you're using an auto tuner at the base, nothing in the antenna itself changed your tuned SWR - it would have to be either the tuner, or the feedline to the tuner. The bottom leg was full of water! |
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Posted: 10/6/2015 6:52:20 PM EDT
[#18]
Don't forget to grab a battery or 3 for lightning protection.
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Incidentally I do believe that the bottom tube filling with water had something to do with the original problem. I ought to grease the entire thing to keep ice from sticking and to make the radio waves slip of it faster so I can make more QSOs in less time. Off to the hardware store for another hose clamp. I screwed one up along the line somehow. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Actually the bottom tube fits in to some kind of Kevlar(?) cylinder. I'm going to Dremel a small groove in it instead of a weep hole. I think that would be a little better. Incidentally I do believe that the bottom tube filling with water had something to do with the original problem. I ought to grease the entire thing to keep ice from sticking and to make the radio waves slip of it faster so I can make more QSOs in less time. Off to the hardware store for another hose clamp. I screwed one up along the line somehow. |
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