Re: [HCDX] Beverage antenna

["Martin A Hall" <martinhall@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yes, this ties in with my own experience.  I live in an exposed location on a peninsular on the
north-west coast of Scotland, where we regularly experience storm-force winds and salt-spray
from the sea; my experiences may also be of interest.  My beverage transformers are in sealed
boxes, but it didn't stop an earth tag (lug) on the coaxial connector rusting away - turned out
it was nickel plated steel, not nickel plated brass as I had thought.  Now replaced with silver
plated brass tags.  But I've also found that some supposedly high quality silver plated brass
TNC connectors on the feeder coaxes also show signs of rust - I think they must have a steel
insert to strengthen the peened-over end of the screw part of the connector.  Fortunately it
doesn't seem to have affected the RF performance.

The main antenna damage here is from sheep, wind and deer (in that order).  It's actually
surprising how robust the antennas are under such adverse conditions - I use 16/0.2mm insulated
copper wire mounted on 2 metre (7 foot) bamboo canes, and the usual damage is the canes becoming
loose in the ground or just snapping in two.  The antennas are checked for electrical continuity
and physical damage at least twice a week during the main DX season.

73s
Martin
Clashmore, Scotland.
DX Loggings Editor, Medium Wave News
NRD-545, beverages: 513m at 240 degrees, unterminated; 506m at 290 degrees, terminated; 588m at
315 degrees, terminated; 362 m at
360 degrees, unterminated.
http://www.gorrell.supanet.com/index.html


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Patrick Martin" <mwdxer@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <hard-core-dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <mwoz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 12:28 AM
Subject: [HCDX] Beverage antenna


> After a storm with winds the other day, I went out to check my Eastern
> beverage. I found a few brambles blown over on it, but otherwise it was
> fine. I have found the past few months the gain is down and maybe the
> directivity is off a bit too. I checked my matching transformer and the
> connections did not look too good. So I took an ohm meter and I found
> continuity between the two sections. I was not getting much, but still
> some crossover. My first thought was the coax, but in disconnecting the
> coax, I found it is fine. No resistance between the braid and the hot
> lead. But there was resistance between the to sections of the matching
> transformer. I always have a spare made up just in case. I found some
> bugs got in and made a nest and the connections were not great, so I
> replaced the matching transformer and I must have gained 5-10 DB, per
> the R8 S Meter. The directivity is much better too.  So it pays to check
> your antenna connections especially in a wet swampy area like this. Even
> using a sealed box, things can happen.
>
> 73s,
>
> Patrick
>
> Patrick Martin
> Seaside  OR
> KAVT Reception Manager
>
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THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed
and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License
published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt