2020-08-23, 17:39:19
(This post was last modified: 2020-08-23, 17:45:33 by Rob_Walker.)
Update: The day after I put my tower up we had a huge storm with high winds. For some unknown reason, the SWR on my Hy-Gain went up on 80, 40, 30 and 20. These bands all have coils and capacitance hats. After speaking with Hy-Gain support there is a strong indication something came lose.
One day I hooked up my analyzer in SWR mode and noticed the SWR on a resonant frequency was drifting up and down as the antenna swayed in a light breeze. This seems to confirm something coming lose. When the weather cools down I will rent another man lift for the weekend and bring it down and investigate. Hy-Gain told me I can tune it on its side on the ground taking into account it will tune lower.
In the mean time, this was an incentive to get my Zero Antennas 43GP vertical up. I mounted this on the back of my wife's garden shed and attached an MFJ-998RT remote antenna tuner. Although the tuner is a little quirky, I am amazed how it can dial in very low SWRs across all the bands.
I've certainly had my share of frustrations and problems: I can't share my 2m antenna because it won't work passing through my PalStar AT2k manual tuner. My Ameritron RCS-4 antenna switch would not work because I bought lightning arrestors that did not pass DC voltage for the switch. I thought the remote tuner did not work because you have to pass CW RF for it to tune. The new 20 amp line I brought into my shack didn't work because the breaker was defective. I've certainly learned all about patience and perseverance this summer!
73s to everyone.
![[Image: IMG_2693.JPG]](http://oddjobsbob.ca/tower/IMG_2693.JPG)
![[Image: IMG_2704.JPG]](http://oddjobsbob.ca/tower/IMG_2704.JPG)
![[Image: IMG_2697.JPG]](http://oddjobsbob.ca/tower/IMG_2697.JPG)
![[Image: IMG_2708.JPG]](http://oddjobsbob.ca/tower/IMG_2708.JPG)
One day I hooked up my analyzer in SWR mode and noticed the SWR on a resonant frequency was drifting up and down as the antenna swayed in a light breeze. This seems to confirm something coming lose. When the weather cools down I will rent another man lift for the weekend and bring it down and investigate. Hy-Gain told me I can tune it on its side on the ground taking into account it will tune lower.
In the mean time, this was an incentive to get my Zero Antennas 43GP vertical up. I mounted this on the back of my wife's garden shed and attached an MFJ-998RT remote antenna tuner. Although the tuner is a little quirky, I am amazed how it can dial in very low SWRs across all the bands.
I've certainly had my share of frustrations and problems: I can't share my 2m antenna because it won't work passing through my PalStar AT2k manual tuner. My Ameritron RCS-4 antenna switch would not work because I bought lightning arrestors that did not pass DC voltage for the switch. I thought the remote tuner did not work because you have to pass CW RF for it to tune. The new 20 amp line I brought into my shack didn't work because the breaker was defective. I've certainly learned all about patience and perseverance this summer!
73s to everyone.