ARROW Communications Association

March 2, 2007
Ice Storms! There's nothing like an el nino Winter to bring on the ice storms. The worst one left a half inch of solid, clear ice on all my antennas (and the tree damage was Significant!). I walked around the yard inspecting, the 20/40/80 fan dipole drooping at least 10 feet lower than usual, and got the bright idea that I could shake the feedline and knock off some of the ice. On about the third shake (the ice was NOT coming off that easily) the whole thing came down, to rest on the ground for the next week or so until I could get the time (and daylight) to get it fixed and back up. It still tuned up fairly well (considering) because the feedpoint wound up on the ground, but the driven side was still attached high in a tree, so none of it was lying on the ground. Still, performance was most definitely compromised.

I got it back up in the air, and everything else seemed to have survived, but, just a couple of storms later, I found myself with only the HF9v vertical working. Big Winter winds had whipped the fan dipole against the peak of the house (again) and the 10/15/20 dipole up in the trees had become extremely deaf (probably water in the coax ...).

So this week I slogged through the foot deep drifts of slush (with icy, soaking wet sneakers) and lowered the fan dipole - generally my best performing antenna. Sure enough, the feedpoint connection to the center of the coax had broken again. This time, instead of dragging my small table and soldering iron out in the drifts, along with the long extension cord, I got the bright idea of reconnecting the feedpoint with ... a wire nut! The solder connections were showing corrosion, and I had read how solder can turn to powder in under a year when exposed to the elements (is this an acid rain issue?). So I twisted the dipole element ends together with the coax center conductor and screwed a wire nut on them very tightly. Then I filled the wirenut with acrylic caulk in the faint hope of limiting water incursion.

We'll see how long that connection lasts, both mechanically and electrically. I have made a mental note to buy a couple of commercial center insulators (W2DU?) at my favorite big Spring swaps coming up - Marshall, MI and Maumee, OH.

I have started looking at station furniture, now that the pile of boxes has been reduced from about 3 cubic yards to a half dozen file boxes stacked against a wall. Hamdesk looks like a very nice piece, but I have wondered if I would have to go custom, perhaps to have something with a roll-top sort of closure to secure the station from small hands (my first grandchild is due in May or June). I also need a workbench of some sort - nothing large, but it must be able to hold my 70 lb. Tektronix o-scope.

More to do ... best rx to all ..