HFU HF Underground

General Category => Huh? => Topic started by: ChrisSmolinski on February 26, 2016, 1720 UTC

Title: Now I know why the Sky Loop is not working well today
Post by: ChrisSmolinski on February 26, 2016, 1720 UTC
(http://i.imgur.com/QwEogEI.jpg)
Title: Re: Now I know why the Sky Loop is not working well today
Post by: EliteData on February 26, 2016, 1759 UTC
was that from the storms we recently had ?
did it damage anything ?
my dipole (G5RV) got ripped down twice by fallen branches, once during the snowstorm and the second time with the storm just recently.
the copper wire snapped both times, had to wait for better temps and for the snow to melt to fix it the first time and the wind/rain to stop to fix it the second time.
tied the broken copper wire into a small knot together and applied solder to it and put it back up.
Title: Re: Now I know why the Sky Loop is not working well today
Post by: ff on February 26, 2016, 1807 UTC
Sheesh Chris!  Trees are so handy - yet so unpredictable!  We had an F1 tornado touch down about 5 miles from me on Thursday morning.  Things are looking good here though.  I used some of that ultra-warm January to do some extra antenna maintenance and chain saw work.  It seems to have paid off.  Well, it looks like you'll be firing up the Jonsered this weekend - good excercise!
Title: Re: Now I know why the Sky Loop is not working well today
Post by: flexoman61 on February 26, 2016, 1810 UTC
That sucks Chris. I've been worried about my antennas
these last few storms. 60 mph wind gust a few nights ago.
Trees and branches down all over town and power outages.
But the antennas made it, this time.
Title: Re: Now I know why the Sky Loop is not working well today
Post by: ChrisSmolinski on February 26, 2016, 2013 UTC
The tree probably fell during the Wednesday evening storm. I just noticed it this morning.  Interestingly enough, my reference AM station on 1280 was still the usual S9+50 dB.  I did notice  much higher noise levels on HF though, and more QRM.

Here is a waterfall I recorded this afternoon while I repaired the antenna. You can see the background noise dropped back to normal (dark blue) at the bottom of the waterfall, after the repair.

No wonder it was so noisy, my loop had turned into a dipole  ;D

(http://i.imgur.com/S4af3iq.jpg)
Title: Re: Now I know why the Sky Loop is not working well today
Post by: Fansome on February 26, 2016, 2330 UTC
If a tree falls on an antenna, and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
Title: Re: Now I know why the Sky Loop is not working well today
Post by: Pigmeat on February 27, 2016, 0516 UTC
Don't go waxing philosophical, Penguin Boy.

It must have been the night for it, Chris. I had a large branch from the neighbors hickory down beside the longwire this morning. I don't know how it missed my house or the wire. If it had fallen to the side instead of straight back it would have came through the roof.
Title: Re: Now I know why the Sky Loop is not working well today
Post by: Fansome on February 27, 2016, 0553 UTC
Are those rodent gnaw-marks I see on the trunk?
Title: Re: Now I know why the Sky Loop is not working well today
Post by: Pigmeat on February 27, 2016, 0606 UTC
Nice catch, Al. Another reason to bring back the beaver hat.