water proof swr's?
 

hi


larger swr's bother me, if you can bare w/my ramblings i wonder f
anyone might have some useful tips...

i have a center fed dipole mounted on some pvc w/eyebolts .

previous rains/snows didn't really effect my swr's

accross 6-160m my swr's were usually 1:2 maybe 1:4 on one band.

thanks to the mast mounted sgc237 feeding my dipole via 5' of ladderline


its a short dipole 25ft hot side about 40ft rf 'gnd' side.


today i guess the snow was wet and trees, n stuff are all coated
w/thick ice, can't see my antenna, but guessing it might have the
center part frozen?? and or other parts. (not my dipole is roof mounted
and clear of trees)


on most bands starting at 18mhz and lower my swr are now anywhere from
1.5 to about 2, not terrible, but not great(good as b4)

so my question is , does anyone know of any tricks that might prevent
ice from altering the swr's, anyone try plastic coatings that repel
ice or 'hoods" guessing they'd have to be far or would just form a ice
hat?

my center is spaced just about 1 1/4" the dia of my pvc pipe and only
slightly larger than my 450 ladder,, would it make sence to make the
top of my ladder line wider spaced ie increasing the gap between the 2
dipole halves? to minimize ice?? i am guessing that creating this
larger 'gap' would increase my ohms maybe this would be bad


thanks

ml wrote:
so my question is , does anyone know of any tricks that might prevent
ice from altering the swr's, ...

Move to Hawaii?


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"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
...
ml wrote:
so my question is , does anyone know of any tricks that might prevent ice
from altering the swr's, ...

Move to Hawaii?



Wonder if you could keep spraying it to keep it wet while tuning, get an
acceptable impedance match, and then perhaps see it improve as it dries? If,
by any lucky fluke that worked, it might keep rain or ice from rendering the
antenna unusable. You could try making it a little long and then a little
short and testing both lengths wet and dry. At worst it might not improve in
either case as it dries and you could go back to the standard tuning mode.
It might be worth trying. I like antenna experimentation and, being retired,
have all the time I need to experiment. (Money is my limiting constraint.)

Harold
KD5SAK

ml,
I would think that it may be more trouble than it's worth. The
'trick' would be to keep stuff off of the ladder line which is the
problem (mostly).
One method I've found that works for me is to give the ladder
line a wack or two with a broom stick. Knocks the snow/ice off,
but (I probably have easier access to the ladder line than you do
since it runs from a window to my antenna :) .).
'Doc

PS - I'd rather move to Hawaii, but...

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 02:34:27 GMT, ml wrote:

accross 6-160m my swr's were usually 1:2 maybe 1:4 on one band.

Hi Myles,

Water and Ice are not that big a deal when you have an SGC.

This and other SWR reports suggest your tuner is not taking care of
the job. You are not supposed to be seeing SWR. It sounds like you
don't have enough choking on the transmission line and/or the control
lines going up to your dipole. As pointed out before, trying to
obtain a total solution with one antenna MUST lead to some exceptions
in operation.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Use nichrome wire and run power into the antenna until the ice melts
off?

OK, I am crawling back into my hole now....

;)

Buck


On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 02:34:27 GMT, ml wrote:

hi


larger swr's bother me, if you can bare w/my ramblings i wonder f
anyone might have some useful tips...

i have a center fed dipole mounted on some pvc w/eyebolts .

previous rains/snows didn't really effect my swr's

accross 6-160m my swr's were usually 1:2 maybe 1:4 on one band.

thanks to the mast mounted sgc237 feeding my dipole via 5' of ladderline


its a short dipole 25ft hot side about 40ft rf 'gnd' side.


today i guess the snow was wet and trees, n stuff are all coated
w/thick ice, can't see my antenna, but guessing it might have the
center part frozen?? and or other parts. (not my dipole is roof mounted
and clear of trees)

--
73 for now
Buck
N4PGW

I feel your pain!!

"Harold Burton" wrote in message
...

I like antenna experimentation and, being retired, have all the time I
need to experiment. (Money is my limiting constraint.)

Harold
KD5SAK