[TowerTalk] [Bulk] More on trap weep holes and bugs

[Grant Saviers]

My steppIR has an interesting solution - a tight end cap on the elements 
with a small hole on the bottom edge and behind it some open cell foam - 
fine enough to keep bugs out but lets water drain. Might work with trap 
end caps, depending on the trap construction. So far ok, and critical 
since the BeCu tape moves inside the fiberglass element.

Grant KZ1W


On 11/12/2014 8:14 AM, James Wolf wrote:
>> I have Cushcraft A4S which I haven't been using for a while. It worked
> perfectly and was tuned to CW portion of the 20,15 and 10 m bands.
>> Few days ago I noticed that SWR on 10 meters went up (to approximately
> 4:1) and antenna started to resonate well above 29.0 MHz. At the same time
> the resonant frequency moved higher on 15 m, but is still tolerable in the
> CW portion (1.6:1).
>> 20 m remains unchanged.
>> I took it down today and examined the traps. They all look O.K. except I
> found few small spider nests inside. Also checked them for dc which appears
> to be fine.
>> It's on the step ladders about 7 feet above ground level now.
>> Is there anything I can do? Anybody experienced same problem before?
>> Any tip would be appreciated.
> Yuri,
>
> I have had similar failures due to bugs, (spiders?) packing grass into the
> traps.  So far it has only caused problems in the driven elements of my
> TH6DXX which is easy to get to.  But likely within the next 10 years, I will
> not want to or be able to climb.
> To date, I have just cleaned it out, fixed or replaced the trap, depending
> on how much damage it caused.
>
> I wonder though the best way to deal with future issues?  I thought about a
> screen across the weep hole and discarded that notion because of the
> possibility that dust and dirt from the rain might plug it up.
> Another thought was to enlarge the weep holes and use screen (copper, brass
> or stainless to make a pouch that dropped down from the weep holes to allow
> more surface area for condensation to air out, however, that possibility
> brings its own set of problems, such as damaging the screen, more open to
> debris etc.
>
> Does anyone else have a longer term experience in dealing with this problem?
>
> Jim - KR9U
>
> P.S. Traps are evil....
>
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