From the President,
As I write this, I am looking out at a snowstorm. We are days away from May and it is snowing like January. A week prior, I was in Florida and the high temperature was 63 degrees with a low around 49. Climate change or Maunder Minimum? But I digress, it is cold and snowy, and I have this urge to go outside and put up an antenna. In fact, when I was in Florida, I was working on my dad’s 5 band vertical. When I was there last August, we were getting intermittent high SWR readings. I tightened all of the counterpoise connections and the problem was solved. We ended up with roughly 1:3-1 on all bands. Eight months later, were getting SWR readings of between 4:1 on 120 MHz to 9:1 on 40 meters. All connections were tight, secure and sealed with no corrosion. Since there was no intermittency, my first test was to check the continuity of the coax. It was indicating a dead short. There is about 150 feet of coax that is mostly buried.
I will most likely ask around about this at the next meeting. Not having the time, patience, or equipment to cut the connectors and test the coax I will ask for troubleshooting expertise at the meeting. But that is what is so nice about this club, I can come to a meeting with any question and get an answer or two. That is what makes this club so good.
See you at the next meeting.
Geoff Stevens
KA9QGH