The varmints [not the dog] chewed my ladderline!
 

Hello All,

Brisk winds blew through our area yesterday and, unfortunately, my 200'
G5RV's feedline touched ground overnight.

This morning I noticed that there were chew marks over 40' of the
ladderline; most went deep enough to expose the copper wire underneath. We
live in the country...

I called the manufacturer; they told me that "splicing/soldering" in a 40'
length of 300 ohm line to replace the chewed up line would upset the SWR and
almost make the antenna useless. It's the solder joints [no matter how
small] that would mess things up.

I used some silicone calk to cover the bite marks; ever try to smooth out
calk on twinlead!?

Do I need to remove/replace the feedpoint and the 40' of the twinlead, in
other words make most of the antenna over again?

Any options to make the antenna whole again, the above draconian measure
notwithstanding?

Many thanks for taking the time to repond!

Alain

The varmints [not the dog] chewed my ladderline!
 

On Fri, 5 Oct 2007 19:47:24 -0700, "Joaquin Tall"
wrote:

Hello All,

Brisk winds blew through our area yesterday and, unfortunately, my 200'
G5RV's feedline touched ground overnight.

Sorry to hear that.

This morning I noticed that there were chew marks over 40' of the
ladderline; most went deep enough to expose the copper wire underneath. We
live in the country...

Life in the city is not all its cracked up to be either.

I called the manufacturer; they told me that "splicing/soldering" in a 40'
length of 300 ohm line to replace the chewed up line would upset the SWR and
almost make the antenna useless.

It's remarkable how there's a new flavor of baloney posted here at
least once a week.

It's the solder joints [no matter how
small] that would mess things up.

Sounds like a McHales Navy re-run from that crew you called.

I used some silicone calk to cover the bite marks; ever try to smooth out
calk on twinlead!?

Real easy if you use a wet rag or just wet hands. Wet is the keyword
and it is water cured.

Do I need to remove/replace the feedpoint and the 40' of the twinlead, in
other words make most of the antenna over again?

You don't even need to silicone calk it. Insulation is not all its
cracked up to be either (the copper is already insulating itself as we
pass these messages back and forth).

Any options to make the antenna whole again, the above draconian measure
notwithstanding?

Lift it back up in the air and fire up the rig. After all, you didn't
notice you had a "problem" until you LOOKED at it, did you?

Now, the chances are you are going to be hypersensitive about any
changes you make, or you don't make. It will SEEM that the antenna is
not operating as it had before. Blame it on the weather, it wasn't
going operate the same as it had before anyway - even if it never fell
- even if the bugs hadn't chewed it.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

The varmints [not the dog] chewed my ladderline!
 

Joaquin Tall wrote:
Hello All,

Brisk winds blew through our area yesterday and, unfortunately, my 200'
G5RV's feedline touched ground overnight.

This morning I noticed that there were chew marks over 40' of the
ladderline; most went deep enough to expose the copper wire underneath. We
live in the country...

I called the manufacturer; they told me that "splicing/soldering" in a 40'
length of 300 ohm line to replace the chewed up line would upset the SWR and
almost make the antenna useless. It's the solder joints [no matter how
small] that would mess things up.

I used some silicone calk to cover the bite marks; ever try to smooth out
calk on twinlead!?

Do I need to remove/replace the feedpoint and the 40' of the twinlead, in
other words make most of the antenna over again?

Any options to make the antenna whole again, the above draconian measure
notwithstanding?

Many thanks for taking the time to repond!

Alain

The varmints [not the dog] chewed my ladderline!
 

Joaquin Tall wrote:
Hello All,

Brisk winds blew through our area yesterday and, unfortunately, my 200'
G5RV's feedline touched ground overnight.

This morning I noticed that there were chew marks over 40' of the
ladderline; most went deep enough to expose the copper wire underneath. We
live in the country...

I called the manufacturer; they told me that "splicing/soldering" in a 40'
length of 300 ohm line to replace the chewed up line would upset the SWR and
almost make the antenna useless. It's the solder joints [no matter how
small] that would mess things up.

I used some silicone calk to cover the bite marks; ever try to smooth out
calk on twinlead!?

Do I need to remove/replace the feedpoint and the 40' of the twinlead, in
other words make most of the antenna over again?

Any options to make the antenna whole again, the above draconian measure
notwithstanding?

Many thanks for taking the time to repond!

Alain

The manufacturer is really blowing smoke, You could replace the
feedline, insulate with silicone, or just dont do anything as long as
the wire isnt damage. twinlead works just fine with bare wire.


Jimmie

The varmints [not the dog] chewed my ladderline!
 

"Joaquin Tall" wrote in message
. ..
Hello All,

Brisk winds blew through our area yesterday and, unfortunately, my 200'
G5RV's feedline touched ground overnight.

This morning I noticed that there were chew marks over 40' of the
ladderline; most went deep enough to expose the copper wire underneath. We
live in the country...

I called the manufacturer; they told me that "splicing/soldering" in a 40'
length of 300 ohm line to replace the chewed up line would upset the SWR
and almost make the antenna useless. It's the solder joints [no matter how
small] that would mess things up.

I used some silicone calk to cover the bite marks; ever try to smooth out
calk on twinlead!?

Do I need to remove/replace the feedpoint and the 40' of the twinlead, in
other words make most of the antenna over again?

Any options to make the antenna whole again, the above draconian measure
notwithstanding?

Many thanks for taking the time to repond!

Alain

its the impedance, not the solder joints, that would mess things up. if you
got a piece of the same impedance ladder line you could spice it just fine.
but as long as the bite marks don't break the wire then adding a bit of
caulk is as good as anything else to fix it for now.

The varmints [not the dog] chewed my ladderline!
 

On Sat, 06 Oct 2007 14:26:48 GMT, "Dave" wrote:


"Joaquin Tall" wrote in message
...
Hello All,

Brisk winds blew through our area yesterday and, unfortunately, my 200'
G5RV's feedline touched ground overnight.

This morning I noticed that there were chew marks over 40' of the
ladderline; most went deep enough to expose the copper wire underneath. We
live in the country...

I called the manufacturer; they told me that "splicing/soldering" in a 40'
length of 300 ohm line to replace the chewed up line would upset the SWR
and almost make the antenna useless. It's the solder joints [no matter how
small] that would mess things up.

That mfgr is not just blowing smoke, he's making an erroneous statement , hoping you'll bite and buy some more
of his product, and at the same time starting another myth that we don't need.

If you're using 300-ohm line I assume you're also using an antenna tuner to match the line to the transmitter.
If this is the case then the line impedance is immaterial, because you could remove the chewed-up portion and
replace it with 450-ohm or 600-ohm line, or whatever impedance line, and adjusting the tuner for an input of
50 ohms will have compensated for the different line impedances along the way. The only result from using
different line impedances is that the SWR will be different on the line sections having the different
characteristic impedances.

The length of 450-ohm line I had available wouldn't reach from the tuner to the terminals of my 80-meter
dipole, but I had a lot of 300-ohm line. So I just used the 300-ohm line to make up the shortfall in the
450-ohm line. Works just fine. Yours will too.

Walt, W2DU

The varmints [not the dog] chewed my ladderline!
 

On Oct 6, 11:14 am, Walter Maxwell wrote:
On Sat, 06 Oct 2007 14:26:48 GMT, "Dave" wrote:

"Joaquin Tall" wrote in message
...
Hello All,

Brisk winds blew through our area yesterday and, unfortunately, my 200'
G5RV's feedline touched ground overnight.

This morning I noticed that there were chew marks over 40' of the
ladderline; most went deep enough to expose the copper wire underneath. We
live in the country...

I called the manufacturer; they told me that "splicing/soldering" in a 40'
length of 300 ohm line to replace the chewed up line would upset the SWR
and almost make the antenna useless. It's the solder joints [no matter how
small] that would mess things up.

That mfgr is not just blowing smoke, he's making an erroneous statement , hoping you'll bite and buy some more
of his product, and at the same time starting another myth that we don't need.

If you're using 300-ohm line I assume you're also using an antenna tuner to match the line to the transmitter.
If this is the case then the line impedance is immaterial, because you could remove the chewed-up portion and
replace it with 450-ohm or 600-ohm line, or whatever impedance line, and adjusting the tuner for an input of
50 ohms will have compensated for the different line impedances along the way. The only result from using
different line impedances is that the SWR will be different on the line sections having the different
characteristic impedances.

The length of 450-ohm line I had available wouldn't reach from the tuner to the terminals of my 80-meter
dipole, but I had a lot of 300-ohm line. So I just used the 300-ohm line to make up the shortfall in the
450-ohm line. Works just fine. Yours will too.

Walt, W2DU- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Just take some Acrylic Latex Exterior paint (color of your choice) and
paint the area that is chewed... It will work fine forever..

Walt, are you getting my emails?