[TowerTalk] More information about my problem; . Re: Heliax acting s

[Mike Smith VE9AA]

Hi Doug, 

 

Sorry to hear of your plight.

 

I have a similar setup, but instead of Heliax, I am using old CATV 7/8”
hardline.  Home brew connectors. 165’ underground run etc.

It’s been my main feeder to the outside world (hi) for 13 yrs. Never an
issue.

 

In my case, SWR suddenly went up last winter quite high and I thought I had
a bad antenna switch.  Of course there was 3’ of snow on the ground on a
Friday afternoon just before a contest ! Gah !  At least the end is “up”
clear of the snow like yours. Wading out there was not fun with no
snowshoes. ;-)

 

Long story short, it was the far end (outside) connector 
well, actually,
down inside the hardline past the actual connector ½-3/4” deep.

.  Same as yours
dry as a bone in there, HOWEVER, the inside looked like the
bottom of an old BBQ.  Charcoal mess !  

I suppose (???) one day when I was running 500-600w on the wrong antenna or
trying to do WARC with a non resonant antenna it fried itself to bits.

Never noticed anything at the time
.whenever that might have been.

Murphy nailed me just hours before a contest though.

 

Dug it all out,(the black mess of dielectric crusty bits) and sealed it up
again.  As long as I am not stupid like that again, I hope to get another
13yrs out of it.

 

I know you usually run QRP, but I suppose even when maybe you had a weak
moment and were running 100w you may have cooked something?

 

HTH

 

YMMV

 

Mike VE9AA

 

Mike, Coreen & Corey

Keswick Ridge, NB