[TowerTalk] Cushcraft A4 VSWR curves - Resolution

[Robert Chudek - K0RC]

Here's the report with the solution to the bad VSWR experienced with the
Cushcraft A4 antenna in question...

"We took down the DE and completely went through it.  Severely corroded  pan 
head screws, some moisture, and crud in the traps were a major item.   
replaced the screws, cleaned and coated the contact areas of both the traps and  
connections to adjacent sections, and then used small SS screws to enhance 
every  joint of the DE.  Put it back up (a struggle) and very happy to report 
that  it seems to work great.  All the minimum SWR points are where they 
should  be and it looks like it will work FB on both modes.  total time of  
project--about 4 hours."


73 de Bob - KØRC in MN

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Message: 9
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 17:25:02 -0600
From: "Robert Chudek - K0RC" <k0rc at citlink.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Cushcraft A4 VSWR curves
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <9DBA8B4B435C45C48A19CFE4A0723CD0 at GX620A>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

First, my apology for not changing the previous message subject... I RX Towertalk 
in digest mode and forgot to correct that.

Joe, W4TV, send me a photograph of a trap that was disassembled. It is indeed
possible to reverse a trap on the element if you are not aware they should be 
installed in only one direction. So this is not folklore, it's reality.

Weather permitting, the antenna will be looked at tomorrow. I'll update with any 
findings that were made.

In the meantime, if anyone has more VSWR data to send me, I'm ready for it.

73 de Bob - K?RC in MN