[Amps] Automotive Relays

[Bill, W6WRT]

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Sun, 8 Aug 2010 07:47:01 EDT, SECOPSYS at aol.com wrote:

>
>Right now my Array Solutions Stackmatch has a bad relay (dirty?).  
>Symptom is occasional high SWR and a lack of received signal on the 
>lower antenna in my tribander stack.  If I send a little high power RF 
>through it things are then fine.

REPLY:

A bad solder joint will cause those symptoms too. Check your coax
connectors. Solder has little tolerance for vibration and can break
loose after a while up in the air. Like you say, a burst of RF will
"heal" it for a while, but it always comes back. The center pin of a
PL-259 seems to be a weak point. 

As much as possible I try to avoid coax connectors where vibration is
inevitable. On my yagis, which seem to all have coax connectors
regardless of manufacturer, I hard wire the coax around them and tape
the coax rigidly in place. Works fine. Same with dipoles. 

73, Bill W6WRT