[TowerTalk] TH6/TH7 Trapped Driven El. Elimination

[Mike]

Hello,

Has anyone eliminated the trapped driven elements on a TH7/TH6 with three
single band driven elements?  I know the past discussion of traps on the
reflector, but don't remember seeing any discussion of eliminating just the
driven elements of the popular TH7/TH6.  

Most of the high power operation at K4GMH is in RTTY contests (1200 Watts).
 The ant. work okay although the SWR starts to rise on 15 meters after an
hour operation in a contest.  The SWR goes from 1.5 to 2.25.  When the
traps are inspected the plastic (or whatever the material is) coil form
looks like it started to melt...  

The only seriously damage to a driven element trap was caused by one of the
trap spacers deteriorating (getting brittle and starting to show cracks)
and must have retained some water.  The damage was seen/heard as 1/4 of the
trap end cover was destroyed (gone) and a the spacer was severly damaged.

  

	73, 
	Mike, K4GMH

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