> -----Original Message-----
> From: topband-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:topband-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Henry Jack
> Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 3:33 PM
> To: topband@contesting.com
> Subject: Topband: Peru report....and how to make fireworks
> with an inverted L
>
I didn't find out what was happening until early
> the next evening during a QSO with PZ5RA. My wife came
> running into the house shouting that the tree was on fire. I
> ran out but didn't see any fire.
> When she calmed down she explained that there was a large
> brilliant yellow fireball accompanied by a high pitch sound
> everytime I sent CW. A visual inspection showed that the
> wind blew my once enameled #12 radiator into a branch of the
> tree. The branch was about 4 inches in dia. and the 3 hour
> pileup created a nice V notch half way into the branch.
>
At the PJ2T station, we have an 80-meter 3-element delta loop array pointed at
Europe. It
has a driven element an parasitic driven element and reflector. During the CQWW
CW trip,
we discovered a couple of issues in need of repair:
1) Where the insulated wire of the reflector
came into contact with the insulated (with
Scotch #33 plus tape), there was a serious
amount of charring on the "insulated" wire;
2) Where the previously-insulated reflector wire
was making contact with a limb of a bushy
tree, the wood was seriously charred.
Note that this was the *reflector*, not a driven element!
Wires and trees do not mix, unless insulators are in between!
73, Jeff K8ND
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