[VHFcontesting] Hail Damage to antennas

[Jimk8mr at aol.com]

I have no experience with hail damage, but if you need to hire a person to  
climb the tower in order to evaluate things, the cost of the climb will be more 
 than the cost of a new antenna.  It would be cost effective to just  replace 
the antenna with a single climb. I hope your insurance company would  
understand.
 
Given the tolerances at 1296 MHz, damage to the antenna by hail would seem  
likely.
 
 
73  -  Jim  K8MR
 
 
In a message dated 7/17/2008 12:36:53 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
glenn.pearson at earthlink.net writes:

We had a  major hail storm Mother's Day causing serious damage here at the
home and  the local area to roofs, gutters and automobiles. This was a freak
storm  for this area (near Charlotte, NC). I have 6 old Cushcraft 424B
antennas at  100 ft with a 1296 mhz loop yagi mounted with them. Since the
storm I have  had noticeable degradation to lobe patterns, particularly on
1296.  



I am wondering if any of the members of this list have  experienced hail
damage to their antenna arrays. I am betting that someone  from an area of
the country where hail storms are more common may be more  knowledgeable.
Unfortunately I am no longer able to climb and I hope to  convince the
insurance adjuster to approve an independent contractor to  evaluate things
for me.








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