I cranked down my venerable Hygain HG-54HD crankup tower to inspect why my
TH6DXX had developed a case of high-swr. There
are problems enough at the top, but on the way down I looked carefully at the
cable (18 years old) and I realized that my problems
had multiplied; there are about three strands left, in the middle of a major
rust spot. This cable is not going to lift this tower again.
Let me please ask two questions, unrelated to each other except for the fact
that I must cure both before I can get on the air again.
(1) Is there a known source of complete HG-54HD cables, with the end
hardware, that I can purchase to replace what I have?
As a lesser alternative, does someone sell all the parts that I need? Can this
cable-replacement job be done by someone who has
never done one before?
(2) Alas, this time my TH6 problem is not the balun (you guys helped me
with that already). I disconnected the balun and
connected a 3-foot stub of coax directly to the wires from the T-match, and I
measured high swr anyway. Here are some
measurements I took, antenna 20 feet high, from the shack, and I do not think
things changed much with the short stub, but I did not
take notes up there. I am not the kind who deals comfortably with pencil,
paper, and MFJ-259 while wearing a belt, even at 20 feet.
F R X
SWR
14.116 18 0
2.5
14.0 18 8
2.8
21.0 36 47
2.7
21.5 17 0
2.7
28 51 16
13
28.6 84 0
1.6
I guess it is probably a bad trap, but does this give anyone insight into the
likely element? I suppose I will have to take the whole
antenna down to do anything, so I will inspect and clean them all, but I
wondered if there was a rule of thumb.
Thanks,
Jan, KX2A
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