Topband: Hy Gain Hy Tower Fire

[K7XQ]

Hello,

I am back on the forum for a short period of time to ask if anyone has
experienced an antenna fire 

with the Hy Gain Hy Tower on 160 meters. Afew nights ago I was trying to
work VP6DX on 160 meters

with @ 500 watts of power when I noticed the noise floor of the radio
dropped so I went outside and found

that the insulator that supports the main top whip of the antenna was
engulfed in flames so I quickly

climbed the tower and extinguished the flames. Has anyone else experienced
this problem with this antenna?

or have I experienced a strange fluke incident. I ran this vertical many
times before on 160 with excellent 

performance and this is the first time I seen or herd of this bizarre
problem.

 

 

K7XQ Jeff

K7XQ Webpage:  http://www.elite.net/~k7xq/k7xq.html