[Hallicrafters] Storm Damages Antennas, Saturday Net Questionable

Fri May 31 23:50:59 EDT 2002

The gas filled are by MFJ, not Alpha Delta. They were $29.95 each when I
purchased them. Replacement gas cartridges are available. 	

I do not know who made the Poly Phaser selling for $54.95 I was told once hit,
it was discarded and replaced. It was more for primary protection, where as the
gas filled were for static discharges only.	

Duane W8DBF 

----------
From: rdhalste <rdhalste at tm.net>
To: Duane Fischer, W8DBF <dfischer at usol.com>; hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] Storm Damages Antennas, Saturday Net Questionable
Date: Friday, May 31, 2002 11:15 PM

> Roger,
>
> I am presuming these are the gas filled Poly Phasers in line between the
rigg

PolyPhasers are solid state and not gas filled. Being solid state, the
devices always show a short to ground and no continuity.
The ones from AlphaDelta are gas filled.
I think I may go with the AlphaDelta, mainly as they have a replacement
cartridge and the PolyPhasers don't.  The one I took out, looks fine.
Unfortunately when I put it back in the SWR goes back up.

> and the antenna. What are you grounding it to? I put mine outside the
shack very
> close to the ground rod.

Mine all go through a bulkhead just inside the basement. The coax cables run
through a 3" underground conduit from the tower to the basement. They
immediately go to the bulkhead which is grounded with #2 cable just outside
the wall.  Actually the cable ties into a system with over 300 feet of bare
#2 and 21 8' ground rods.

Eventually I want to gring the conduit up just outside and go through the
bulkhead which will be installed between the inside and outside of the
house.  Then I'll ground all the shields right where it makes the turn in
toward the house.
>
> I do not know what you are running for a tx on 2m, but if it is solid
state, it
> should have shut down if the swr was greater than 3:0:1 In some cases,
2:0:1
>

They shut down, but they don't shut off...In other words they power backs
down to a relatively safe level, but I't was still showing 17 watts forward
and 13 watts reflected.  I'm running a Kenwood TM-V7. Oh, there is a
AlphaDelta antenna switch (440 and 144 antennas) which also has a lightening
arrestor in it.

It aparently wasn't a complete short as at least a little of the signal was
making it through 228 feet of LMR-400 to the antenna array. At first I was
afraid there was a problem up at the antennas.  That would have meant taking
down the entire antenna system as the 2-meter array is the top array.

Fortunately, although the PolyPhasers are not cheap, they are cheaper than
the rigs and this one appears to have done its job.

Roger (K8RI EN73)
WWW.RogerHalstead.com
N833R, World's Oldest Debonair? S#CD-2

> Duane W8DBF
>
>
> ----------
> From: rdhalste <rdhalste at tm.net>
> To: hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] Storm Damages Antennas, Saturday Net
Questionable
> Date: Friday, May 31, 2002 10:00 PM
>
>
> We had similar storms through here...(I'm only 50 miles NNW of Duane), but
> having only been in bed an hour when they hit, I sorta made note of their
> passing, hollered at the hail for making such a lound noise on the roof
and
> tried to go back to sleep through the almost constant flicker of
lightening.
>
> All antennas survived, including the *big* ones.
>
> We received 1 3/8ths inches of rain in roughly two hours.
> We started pouring concrete by 9:30 AM under a beautiful blue sky.
>
> BTW, I had noticed swinging those big stacked 12s on 2-meters 90 degrees
to
> the repeater (which is only 7 miles away) would make it almost uncopyable
> and my signal would also be noisy.  I figured that was a tad too directive
> to be realistic...so early last night I checked the SWR and found it to
> be...shall we say, at tad high...OK...two tads.  A bit of searching found
> the PolyPhaser(lightening arrestor for those unfamiliar with PolyPhasers)
> shorted. No wonder I had such a poor signal.  I use these on all the
> equipment including the antique Hallicrafters "boat anchors".
>
> I figure that happened earlier this spring when a lightening strike
> basically totaled one of the computers.  But the rig tied to the antenna
> that was hit, survived.
>
> Roger (K8RI EN73)
> WWW.RogerHalstead.com
> N833R, World's Oldest Debonair? S#CD-2
>
>
> >
> > A tremendous thunderstorm roared through southeastern lower Michigan
early
> this
> > morning. Our local Sky Warn spotters reported seeing tornadic patterns
as
> near
> > constant flashes of lightning illuminated the 4:00 AM EDT darkness.
Winds
> in
> > excess of 60 mph, nickel size hail and H2O by the dump truck full woke
all
> of us
> > up earlier than planned. An inspection of the premises revealed one
> antenna
> > totally down and another badly twisted by the strong winds.
> >
> > I managed to get the bulk of the damage repaired today and will be
testing
> the
> > antenna systems later tonight. However, because my primary forty meter
> double
> > bazooka was among the casualties, I 'MAY NOT' be on the air for the
> Saturday
> > June 1st HCI 40 meter Net.
> >
> > If not, perhaps one of you can sit in the NCS chair?
> >
> > The pre-Net will begin at 12:3-0 PM EDT, (1630 UTC). The Net proper,
will
> > commence at 1:00 PM EDT, (1700 UTC). The frequency will be 7.280 Mhz lsb
> +/- for
> > key clicks, mike splatter and the sound of Duane trying to bride the
> Squirrels
> > into tying the nylon UV resistant rope around the tree trunk instead of
> chewing
> > on it!
> >
> > I hope to be there to hear you. So if you hear this puny voice crying CQ
> from
> > the wilderness, it will probably be me.
> >
> > Duane Fischer, W8DBF
> > NCS: Hallicrafters Collectors International
> > netcontrol at w9wze.org
> > _______________________________________________
> > List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF **for assistance**
> > dfischer at usol.com
> > ----
> > Hallicrafters Collectors International: http://www.w9wze.org
> > ----
> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/hallicrafters
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF **for assistance**
> dfischer at usol.com
> ----
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>