[Elecraft] Bad Condx?

[k4wtf@enterzone.net]

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003, [Windows-1252] W=D8IFL wrote:

> Worked a couple stations on 20M last night, had a terrible time getting o=
ut.
> Not too bad hearing.. I chalked it up to bad propagation.
>=20
> Woke up this morning and noticed my dipole was laying on the ground.
> Actually more of a non-inverted Vee since the ends were still up.
>=20
> Now... where did I leave that slingshot??
>=20
> RonE
> W=D8IFL
> K2 #2133

Wow.  I had a similar experience on my 160m loop.  It had been a month or
so since I'd been on 160m - I set the tuner to the KNOWN settings, hit the
"dit" paddle and what I saw was NOT good!  The red "Oh Crap" light on my
VFD came on.  I though, "Hrm...  That's odd."  After quite a bit of
fiddling (using "dits" on a freq with no other operators) with the tuner,
I finally got a 1:1 match.  The settings were WAY different than my
"KNOWN" settings for the antenna so, I decided that this was not simply a
"wet leaves, wet ground changing the characteristics" type of issue.  I
went out side to find a tree (not one from my property) had been
transplanted onto my property by one of the recent "straight-line
wind" storms. (The Natl Weather Svc doesn't believe in Tornados in my area
I guess.)  Anyway, this "new" tree, complete with root system, was now
laying against my 160m loop.  That explained it.

Anyway, strange things happen.  I guess visual inspection of antenna
systems is an important aspect of operating. ;)

73 de John - K4WTF
K2/100 #2490