[450] [Spam?] antenna (or feedline) woes

[Robert Busino]

I had no idea you were using one of THOSE in your system. I learned not to trust "inline accessories" a long time ago when I was over Alan's (yes, THAT Alan) helping him diagnose his antenna issue. It turned out to be a barrel connector. No visible damage like THIS, but electrically it had quit. He never had more than 180 watts.
 Of course, this comes from a guy who was using RG59 as a power divider with a Henry.....quite a few years later.  It shorted itself out right where it was wire tied to the cross boom.  I still use T-connectors however for the power dividers, and it still may turn out to be the issue with my 2 meter array. I hope not, as I don't have an alternative for those in my power dividers.  I still plan on using them on my next version of stacked loops, as in going to a four stack. 
  
  
  

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 From: "David McKenzie" <k1fsy at vhfwiki.com>
Sent: Monday, October 9, 2023 2:12 PM
To: 450 at lists.vhfwiki.com
Subject: Re: [450] [Spam?] antenna (or feedline) woes   
  Cohen went up and swapped out the hardline connector and dropped down some chinese aluminum coax and it looks more reasonable. Upon disassembling the bottom of the hardline to regular coax i discovered that the N to UHF adapter I was using appears to be smoked. Hard line might still be OK and I don't have a need for this barrel anymore but it looks like this may have been the culprit.
  
  

  
  

    On Fri, Oct 6, 2023 at 6:36?PM Robert Busino <n1ujs at toast.net> wrote:
  Noted.
  
 N1UJS
  
  
  

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 From: "David McKenzie" <k1fsy at vhfwiki.com>
Sent: Friday, October 6, 2023 4:50 PM
To: "144.450 Mailing List" <450 at lists.vhfwiki.com>
Subject: [Spam?] [450] antenna (or feedline) woes    
   I noticed this morning when I returned the meter to its normal position on the output of the TE systems amp that I was only getting out about 150 watts. I didn't check the reverse power immediately but when I put a 25W slug in backwards at 100W forward it shot up like crazy. Connected the nanovna and sure enough the match is completely screwed (with the tower mount preamp off .. which also makes a difference!) Oddly enough I'm hearing fine as I was tracking Rich up Rt 8 with no issues, so I suspect it may be water intrusion. It doesn't change when i rotate/shake the antennas so I don't think it is on the antenna, but it could be the preamp or the connection at the preamp that is at issue, or the old hardline, or the connection between the hardline and the coax outside at ground level. I can check the ground level connectors when the weather is nicer but if it isn't that I'm out of luck until my foot is healed well enough to get back on the roof. Gonna have to hook the loops back up.

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