[Boatanchors] antenna question

[Raymond Cote]

Spiders spin out a web material for a long time in a mild wind and use it as a sail. Sometimes it hits something downwind and they let go and have a way to get to a new location.  
There's a place in Japan where spiders cross a large freeway on webs so utilized. Distances of more than 250 yards have been seen. On days with lots of humidity one can see hundreds of webs crossing the highway tree to tree. Pretty cool
Ray 

> On Aug 24, 2014, at 20:16, "RAY FRIESS" <rayfrijr at msn.com> wrote:
> 
> Really?    I think I have heard that before, but I've never figured out how a spider could crawl up a 30 foot tower
> and out a 12 foot element to get into the small hole that traps have for moisture draining.
> 
> 
>> Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 19:07:47 -0400
>> From: anchor at ec.rr.com
>> To: rayfrijr at msn.com; boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
>> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] antenna question
>> 
>> Hi,
>>    Just something to look for, some beam traps have a problem with spiders 
>> getting in and building nests which cause tuning problems. (It's 
>> happened to me.)
>> 73,
>> 
>> Al, W8UT
>> www.boatanchors.org
>> www.hammarlund.info
>> 
>> "There is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much
>> worth doing as simply messing about in boats"
>> Ratty, to Mole
>> 
>>> On 8/24/2014 6:33 PM, RAY FRIESS wrote:
>>> I'm a bit puzzled about something even after about 40  years as a ham.  Would be interested in comments or
>>> thoughts from the group.
>>> 
>>> I have a triband beam for 10, 15 and 20.  It's one of the old Hy-Gain Explorer beams.  It has two traps in the reflector
>>> and two in the driven elevent and four traps in the director.    It worked perfectly on all three bands for a long long time,
>>> and now on 15 it is unusable, but remains perfect on 20 and 10.
>>> 
>>> As I understand the operation of the driven element, everything (element wise) between the boom and the trap is for 10 and 15 meters.  Everything from the outside of the trap to the end of the element is for 20 meters.
>>> 
>>> My problem is this...  I have a fantastic SWR on 20 and 10 ...  practically a 1.2 to 1 on each band across the entire band.
>>> I am able to work just about anything I can hear with 100 watts barefoot, and seldom have to turn on the 30L-1 except
>>> in big pileups.   However, on 15, the beam is unusable.  It pegs the SWR meter at infinity and in my TS 50, the protection
>>> circuit drops the power output from 100 watts to barely visible.
>>> 
>>> My question is this ...   what could be causing the high SWR on 15 meters, while not affecting 20 and 10 at all?
>>> If everything from the outer edge of the trap to the end of the element is for 20 and the trap is for 15/10 discrimination,
>>> shouldn't 20 SWR also be through the roof if the trap was bad on 15?  The RF for 20 has to go through the trap and
>>> if it has gone bad on 15, wouldn't it also mess up 20?
>>> 
>>> what should I be looking for or at?
>>>                         
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