It took me quite a while to resolve all the problems that cropped up
with my tower, as well as with the TH6DXX that developed a high swr.
I would like to thank the group for clues about what might have
caused the high swr in my TH6DXX, and for tips on how to replace the
cables.
Here is what I did.
I removed all the traps, tapped them out of their aluminum covers,
unscrewed every coil-to-element connection and cleaned it with steel
wool. I put in a little oxidation-resisting compound at the
connection and put the screws back. I also used the compound at the
places where the element tubes slid back together. I purchased
replacement coil and tubing end caps and put them in, and replaced
the element insulators on the driven element.
When I put the TH6 back up, the swr was back to normal, acceptable
everywhere on 10-15-20.
Based on information from this group, I replaced the cables that
raise the HG-52HD. They had to be custom-made, since Hy-Gain does not
make them, although the folks there implied that they might come back
into production in a year. I got them by mail from Voto
Manufacturing, (814) 226-7101. Voto is in western PA, but I did not
go there; the entire deal was done by phone and shipping. They now
have done custom cables for an HG-75 and an HG-52. They made the
smaller, upper cable, a bit long, by a few inches, but I think the
tower raises to within six inches or less of its original full
extent.
I did the cable replacement by tilting the tower over and resting it
on a log, allowing the sections to slide for access to the screws.
However, I still managed to get a screw in backwards, and it hung up
on another section as I cranked the tower up. It is critical to
replace the screws exactly as they came out. I was able to crank the
tower up a bit to get access to the screw, then put a pipe through
the sections to hold them in place, loosen the cables and remove and
reverse the errant screw.
I thank the group for its guidance.
73,
Jan Ditzian
KX2A
kx2a@arrl.net
|