Topband: BOG antenna

[ZR]

Interesting timing Bruce!

Last week I had noticed my NW/SE 2 wire Beverage acting funny, poor F/B in 
particular along with it being noisy.

It turned out to be the ground rod clamp had loosened, the screws doing the 
clamping and holding the #12 wire were completely rusted. This rod had been 
in the ground about 23 years and had been used on a different single wire 
Beverage.

In addition the rod was actually quite loose and the clamping itself rather 
corroded. Ive alternated over the years between soldering to the rod or 
clamping purely due to having one on hand or having to make a 15 mile round 
trip to HD. In this case the 2nd rod is soldered.
The rod is a utility grade with no rust anywhere and with the clamp wire 
brushed, and SS hardware performance is as expected.

Carl
KM1H



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce" <k1fz at myfairpoint.net>
To: <topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2013 12:59 PM
Subject: Topband: BOG antenna


> My South-East 160 foot BOG antenna lost its reasonably wide band width. 
> Suspected and replaced the termination resistor resulted in the same 
> symptoms. Checked the BOG wire for a possible break and it was also OK. 
> Connected a resistor across the BOG transformer, antenna side, and it was 
> good. It was getting to be a head scratcher. Finally an ohmmeter check to 
> the ground rod  connection showed a high resistance.  Cleaned the ground 
> rod connection area, tightened the clamp, and soldered it. The BOG antenna 
> is now working well again.
> Like most of us, when the width goes bad we look at the far end 
> termination, but in the case surprisingly it was at the near end.
> I am not giving other details for naysayer discussion purposes. Posting 
> this information only to possibly help others.
>
> 73
> Bruce-K1FZ
> www.qsl.net/k1fz/beveragenotes.html
>
> _________________
> Topband Reflector
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