[VHFcontesting] Why me Lord? What is going on.

[David Olean]

An update on the antenna situation.  I looked around the base of the 
tower and saw nothing unusual.  I found no dead sky divers, and no dead 
birds. Both antennas on one side of the H frame were broken in half near 
the center.  Both seemed pushed towards the center mast.  A few elements 
are missing where it broke.  I decided to try to start the repairs even 
though I could find no helpers. My two "go to" guys were out of town.  
First I had to get my rope and pulley system off another 120 ft tower 
where I was working on my 903 antennas. So up the 120 ft tower and 
recover the rope and pulley. Then I installed the rope and pulley system 
on the 222 MHz 100 ft tower and hauled up a bucket of tools. Next I used 
some ratchet straps and loosened the H frame and slid the frame sideways 
so I could reach the yagis that were broken.  I rigged up the rope and 
pulley to the bottom antenna and removed it off he tower and lowered it 
to the ground. The brace was bent and the boom destroyed in the middle. 
I rigged up a new mid section. It got late and I was losing daylight. I 
got the mid section installed on the antenna and removed the bent brace 
and took it to my shop and straightened it out so it looks pretty good. 
I'll put the brace on in the morning.

Tomorrow, Mark K1RX is coming over and we will attempt to get the top 
yagi off the H frame. It is in worse shape then antenna #1. I hope to 
get it on the ground so it can be repaired. Hopefully two people on the 
tower will make the job easier. Removing one yagi by myself was a bit 
much. I think I have been tempting fate by having such a big antenna up 
high on a ridge. It has taken a beating over the winters, but this 
failure defies logic.

Tomorrow is also 222 Night. The rotatable antenna will not be working, 
so I am stuck with my fixed yagis aimed at 220 degrees. They cannot 
rotate. Before I dismantled the array, I listened on 222 MHz to the 
W3CCX beacon and the busted up quad yagi array was still better than the 
8 X 5 element yagis. The difference might have been 2-3 dB.  Normally I 
see about 5+ dB over the 8 x 5 el.

I will make a better search around the tower in the morning. Maybe I'll 
find a few elements or a sky diver?


73

Dave K1WHS