by PADRE \u2013 W\u00d8WPD<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s an old, but not accurately certifiable tradition about putting up Ham antennas in bad weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It goes something like the following: any antenna erected during bad weather (snow, sleet, rain and\/or heavy wind) will work and perform very well. There\u2019s an implied corollary which says antennas put up and\/or serviced during nice weather won\u2019t work very well —if at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my early days as a Ham my best efforts deferred to the old traditional wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the moment, however, I\u2019m addressing this matter since we\u2019re between fair and bad weather. It is time to check our antennas and guy lines. (Notice I didn\u2019t say \u201cguy wires).\u201d Non metallic \u201cguy lines\u201d are to be preferred, unless you\u2019re using them as counterpoise and\/or radials in which case they should be wires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coax connectors and screw terminals can loosen over time with vibration, expansion and contraction of temp changes and loose installation in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides, an area of concern should be how water-tight the connections are to begin with. At the very least coax connections should be wrapped with plastic electrician\u2019s electrical tape, with several overlapping layers and a temp range for one\u2019s environment. Not all electrical tape is the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another treatment for the connector is a product with various trade names. I have used \u201cNOALOX\u201d very satisfactorily for many years. It means, \u201cNO ALUMINUM OXIDATION\u201d and is used to coat the center contact and sleeve of the coax connector. (Do not bridge the two with the compound \u2026 it is very conductive). It can be obtained at electrical supply stores. I also use Noalox between sections of a telescoping antenna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Use the Noalox as you put the fittings together, use pliers to snug the fit, then apply the tape mentioned above. This will last for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now is also a good time to check the nuts, lock-washers and bolts on brackets and c-clamps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by PADRE \u2013 W\u00d8WPD There\u2019s an old, but not accurately certifiable tradition about putting up Ham antennas in bad weather. It goes something like the following: any antenna erected during bad weather (snow, sleet, rain and\/or heavy wind) will work and perform very well. There\u2019s an implied corollary which says antennas put up and\/or serviced…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antennas","category-articles","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2314,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2313\/revisions\/2314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}