[RTTY] That darn antenna and a appology.

[Jeff AC0C]

Congrats on nailing it down Thom.

73/jeff/ac0c
www.ac0c.com
alpha-charlie-zero-charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Thom 
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2016 3:43 PM 
To: rtty at contesting.com 
Subject: [RTTY] That darn antenna and a appology. 

I spent today tearing down my Alpha-Delta DX-CC multiband antenna system 
to get to the bottom of my recent issues.

I want to admit that I was totally wrong in my statements about water 
not getting into my feed line system for that antenna.  My feed line 
consisted of 100 feet of good quality RG8X with silver plated 
connectors.  Attached to that was a 8 turn coax choke that was then 
connected to the SO-239 on the center insulator.

It was that coax choke that turned out to be the problem. When I 
disassembled it I discovered it was full of water.  I cut the cable I 
made it from in the middle and stripped the outer jacket. The braid was 
totally black from  contamination. That coax went into the trash for 
Monday pickup.

No water or contamination was found in the 100 foot. section.

In any event 200 feet of brand new RG8X coax was purchased from my radio 
club stock today and the antenna will go back up tomorrow. This time no 
choke.

What puzzles me is why, when the rain stopped my SWR returned to a 1:1 
ratio.

A lot of times, when I get frustrated over something my brain starts to 
malfunction and I get into what my wife calls, mickey mode and I make 
statements that are irrational and often totally wrong.  These are the 
times I need to just step sway from the computer.

I want to take this time to tell everyone on this list and to especially 
to those I have managed to totally piss off this time that I am truly 
sorry for my actions and I promise to do a better job to be a more 
rational person.

Thanks

Have a great day

73

Thom KI8W







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