Missed out on most of the ARRL DX CW fun last weekend due to (as it turns
out) one bad connection. Finally discovered it today. WHEW!
I was starting to worry that my troubleshooting skills were slipping.
It turned out to be right at the main feed off my hardline.
At first I was certain it was my remote coax switch, but this particular
switch sends switching signals down the coax by DC , so with a connection at
the end of my
hardline resembling the innards of a Hibachi, no signal was getting through.
Fooled me ! Swapped in my 2nd outside switch during ARRL DX CW, but also
zero signals.
At this point I mistakenly thought maybe both my switches had taken a
lightning hit. Being one of the highest points around, stuff like this
happens.
So today I am home playing Dr. Dad to a sick kid and the sun comes out and
the temp shoots up to 12*C..I dash outside, making my way gingerly across
the top of 2-3' of snowpack and finally rip apart the last connection I have
not yet checked and find a charred black mess in a barrel connector and a
PL-259 on the end of a coax pigtail that attaches to my main hardline
feeding a group of 4-squares 200' from the shack. A multimeter at the far
end and an alligator jumper wire in the shack is all that was needed to
ultimately solve the "everything is open" mystery.
Evidently somewhere along the way water got into the connection and when I
went to use it last w/e - I was greeted with a big fat NOTHING after the 2nd
dit!
Why this connection failed after so many years is a mystery, as I taped it
really good, and from the outside it looked great. As I untapped it, the
tape was still sticky and it was not hard/stiff crackly tape either. UV is
not too severe in VE9...but I suspect, I just didn't tape it "good
enough"..It's a homebrew connector mating the hardline to the coax and under
the tape it's a bit "lumpy/bumpy".hi..This particular connection just sticks
up in the air, a couple feet off the ground and is subject to slight
movement from time to time. If I had to guess, it was when we had the
icestorm and then a few days later some wicked high winds during the big
snow n' blow last Monday. (108cms of snow over a couple days) Wind speeds
were moving my house ever so slightly. Really cold temps earlier this month
likely cracked the tape and let the wind move the hardline around ever so
slightly. Enter - - snow n' water ~!
What a mess. Anyways, got it all fixed now and this message is not for
sympathy, but just to inform others of the weird things the weather does !
So for now I am back in business on 20-40 & 80m..for some reason the 160m
2-el array shows open, so I probably have another bad connection somewhere,
but it'll have to wait for spring, cuz if it's the one I think it is, it's
quite low to the ground and still under deep snow..or maybe a tree has
fallen down in the woods that holds my 2nd element. No showshoes to get out
there and I don't feel like excavating yards of snow on the other inv
L..ahhh, winter. Beautiful radio condx, but antennas sure are subject to so
much trauma. I can't imagine what the KL7's, UA0's and northern
Scandanavians go through. Probably worse than here.
CQ 160 SSB next weekend holds little interest for me, so it's no biggie to
be down one antenna.
To hopefully combat Murphy or Mother Nature, this time I initially laid down
2 wraps of 3M electrical tape and then 2 wraps of self-sealing stretchy
rubber tape, then 2 more wraps of 3M electrical tape over the connection
where my hardline goes to a short flexible coax pigtail. (there was
previously no layer of rubber tape on it, just regular electrical tape)
Yes, I added a little mechanical support so it wouldn't move in the breeze,
hi In the spring I will add a short pipe or stake and tape my hardline to
it for a more permanent rigid solution.
All this long story just to advise you (as if all you guys don't already
this know), to check your tape connections before winter !
Mike VE9AA
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