wrote:

starman wrote:

How well do you think it would stand up to some rough winter weather
with icing and strong winds?


The antenna should be pretty resilient once you have it mounted. As I
recall, Wellbrook does recommend that, after attaching the base of the
loop to a post, rotor, etc., you should add some improvised vertical
supports to support the upper portion of the loop in the event of high
winds. I doubt it would be hard to add this extra support.

The way I have the antenna situated is unusual, I think. I have it on
the end of a horizontal mast extending away from my building. The *top*
of the loop is actually attached to the mast via some clamps and
protective rubber inserts. The clamps hold the loop firmly, but not so
tightly that the antenna can't 'give' in the face of strong winds. The
base of the loop, with the coax attached, isn't mounted to anything,
but the coax itself provides it with a bit of weight and added
stability.

I obviously could have mounted the loop differently, and could
certainly have attached it via its base to the horizontal mast I'm
using, provided I also gave it some vertical support for wind
protection. However, I thought that attaching the upper portion of the
loop to the mast while leaving the bottom free to shift a bit with the
wind would provide better long term protection, and after a few months
I feel pretty good about this arrangement. Because the loop is visible
out my kitchen window, I've monitored its condition very carefully and
everything's working out just fine. In fact, over the last couple of
days we've had very strong winds and these have not stressed the loop
*at all*.

I have this vision of the loop snapping off at the base (standard
mounting) when it's loaded with ice in a high wind. It's not clear to me
how you would provide more vertical support at the top of the loop
without interfering with it's ability to rotate (with a rotor).


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