[RTTY] Ice on antennas - get on-air anyway!

[James C. Hall, MD]

Well, my antennas are a stack of Force 12 MAG 620/340 beams on a 120' tower.
The sheer weight of the top one with some mild boom bowing makes it a risk
to rotate. I have two bearings under it and an Orion rotator. Probably
should be a prop pitch - maybe someday. The other problem is asymmetric
weighting particularly when the ice starts to melt or sublimate. The lower
MAG is the older version with the wire LL elements and is mounted on a TIC
ring. It all works FB.

Five years ago I lost a tower and the antennas on it with a truly historic
ice storm with 1 1/2" ice everywhere. I was able to rebuild most of it and
the smaller crank up tower (72') now supports a short stack of XR-5's with
VHF/UHF stuff up higher.

On an unrelated note, I'm taking care of my 83 y.o. Mom who fractured her
right ankle after Christmas !

"This too shall pass !"

73, Jamie
WB4YDL

-----Original Message-----
From: RTTY [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Steve NR4M
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 11:07 AM
To: RLVZ at aol.com
Cc: rtty at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RTTY] Ice on antennas - get on-air anyway!

WPX-RTTY is a

> fantastic contest, I encourage you NOT  to miss it!
>    

With the solar flux hovering around 200, this might be the one NOT to miss.

VU was worked early this morning on 10 meters.
Actually, would rather see 80 meters wide open, with 6 points per Q on the
low bands.

As W4MYA is often heard to say 'Run-em'.



73 de Steve, NR4M

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