[TowerTalk] C31XR internitted high SWR (wetter kurt)

[w5wz at w5wz.com]

Kurt,

I have three-high stack of Force 12s:  C-51XR, C-31XR, C-51XR.  The 
C-51XR's are C-31XR's on a 51 ft boom, with a 2-element LL 40m at the 
rear of the boom.

I do feed all of my bands with a separate feed line, following the 
instructions in the Force 12 manual to make the hairpins for 10 & 15 
meters and remove the piece of "romex" that connected 15DE to 20DE.  So 
that gives me 11 feed lines for the booms  3x 10m, 3x 15m, 3x 20m, 2x 
40m.

The hardware used to connect the hairpin match across the split DE must 
be tight to the element and tight to the hairpin, without corrosion.  
Likewise, if you used the CAL-AV Labs baluns supplied by F12, the 
pigtail from it must also be secure and corrosion free at the DE 
attachment point.  From time to time, I've also had to adjust the 15 and 
20 hairpins (I can reach them from the tower); don't know if 
wind/temperature/hail has moved them.

Others have indicated intermittent SWR issues in windy conditions; I 
likewise have also experienced that symptom, and it is the worst on 15 
meters.

Water ingress into barrel connectors has been my biggest foe since 
installing this stack 10 years ago.

--Scott, W5WZ
--  W5WZ.com