[TowerTalk] Polyphaser failure mode

[Pete Smith N4ZR]

Hi Rick - actually, the flashover was out at the base of the tower, and 
the Polyphaser is in the shack window.  I've had a few of these before, 
and they generally leave a little soot-like material on the insulator, 
which I think is conductive to a degree.  I suspect they start with 
failure of the tape job, leading to moisture infiltration.  Because 
there had been lightning last night (no near misses or even visible 
cloud-to-ground), I wondered about the Polyphaser, before I started 
tracking sdown the failure

73, Pete N4ZR
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On 6/26/2014 3:38 PM, Rick Stealey wrote:
>
>>    As it turns out, I had a flashover in an N-to-PL-259
>> connection
> Pete,
> Are you saying the Polyphaser is still ok?  That the low R was caused by a path within the adapter?
> Interesting.
>
> So we don't actually know if the gas tube fired or not then, do we?  Because maybe most or all the energy went to ground through the N-PL250 adapter before it got to the place where the arrestor was mounted.  I'm assuming the adapter was out by the tower and the Polyphaser was near the entrance to the shack.
>
> Rick  k2XT
>   		 	   		
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