What's wrong? Tribander has very high SWR and no receive.

[Captain Kilowatt]

Well I can't seem to figure out what is wrong with my A3 tribander. I used to have a good SWR across all the bands on 10-20m but now it is extremely high, has no F/B ratio and is dead on receive.Take a look at the pictures.It's the antenna on the bottom of the stack. Any ideas what may be wrong? :headbang It was all good until an ice and wind storm ripped through here a while back.

Here's a hint.The element in the middle is the reflector. The two elements at the right end of the boom are the director and the driver element. Notice the balun mounted to the boom just to the right of the tower? It used to be connected to the driver element before it decided to take a little walk down the length of the boom followed by the reflector element. It's been too windy whenever I am off work to do anything about it and now it's just plain too damn cold too. Going down to -27C or about -17F tonight with a daytime high of 0F the next few days.Windchills are around -38 and that's pretty much the same on either scale.No way in hell I'm climbing the tower in that!

 

[EDUK8TR]

Geeze, Hate to see you have such a predicament. Just remember the old Amateurs wives tale about any antenna work done in cold and bad weather always turns out better than fair weather antenna work.:blink:

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Newflash.The last time I worked on that antenna it WAS cold and windy. So much for that old saying. :sad: I remember just how cold it was that day.How do I remember? Well lets just say that one should NEVER place the nuts off the U-bolts in one's teeth in that kind of cold. I actually had one freeze to my lips. My wife thought I was getting a cold sore. :headbang I told her I never get those things and explained what happened.She looked at me and laughed and said."Well is it sore and was it cold when you got it?"

 

[SR385]

bad connection or balun at the feedpoint maybe?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

bad connection or balun at the feedpoint maybe?

Take another real good look at the elements and read my initial post. :headbang

 

[WX2MIG]

Wow QRN...that thing sure doesn't look healthy, and this cold weather has made it's way down here, so I don't blame you for holding out on repairs.

I just hope for your sake it doesn't get any worse before you get a decent day to climb up there to make repairs......

Good luck with it.....

 

[hookedon6]

bad connection or balun at the feedpoint maybe?

i don't think the balun is anywhere near the feedpoint ..... or even connected. be safe and stay warm up there

 

[N9RZD]

Well I can't seem to figure out what is wrong with my A3 tribander. I used to have a good SWR across all the bands on 10-20m but now it is extremely high, has no F/B ratio and is dead on receive.Take a look at the pictures.It's the antenna on the bottom of the stack. Any ideas what may be wrong? :headbang It was all good until an ice and wind storm ripped through here a while back.

Here's a hint.The element in the middle is the reflector. The two elements at the right end of the boom are the director and the driver element. Notice the balun mounted to the boom just to the right of the tower? It used to be connected to the driver element before it decided to take a little walk down the length of the boom followed by the reflector element. It's been too windy whenever I am off work to do anything about it and now it's just plain too damn cold too. Going down to -27C or about -17F tonight with a daytime high of 0F the next few days.Windchills are around -38 and that's pretty much the same on either scale.No way in hell I'm climbing the tower in that!

UHHHH, i'll take a guess, It's broke ?
seriously though
looks like the wind gods had their way with it,
on the bright side that apparent 6 mtr yagi and the 2mtr one above
look ok !

no hf for you , sri to see that ,
yeah , dont be climbing no towers in this sh%t
this morning its -14 outside my shack window
our hot water lines are frozen .
and there are dozens of frozen up semis
on the interstates in my area ,
I heard one cop on the scanner this morning
say that the highway is starting to look like a parking lot

stay warm !

 

[SR385]

Oh heh now I see it...I couldn't really tell what I was looking at.

I know what the trouble is, you have too many antennas. Box a few of them up and send them my way.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

i don't think the balun is anywhere near the feedpoint ..... or even connected. be safe and stay warm up there

You got it. The elements worked loose and "walked" along the boom.The connection from the balun to the driver element broke and allowed the driver element to "walk" it's way to the very end of the boom.The reflector element is almost verticle and is wedged in among the tower and the 6m beam.

UHHHH, i'll take a guess, It's broke ?
seriously though
looks like the wind gods had their way with it,
on the bright side that apparent 6 mtr yagi and the 2mtr one above
look ok !

Yeah the 11 element 2m yagi and the six element 6m yagi are 100% fine.The 2m is a Cushcraft A147-11 and the 6m beam is home made from an old Wilson Shooting Star CB antenna.It works FB BTW.

Oh BTW, did I mention I also have a broken ring gear in my rotator? :headbang I have another slightly larger rotator I can replace it with, but again, I have to have some decent weather on my days off to get it done. I am seriously thinking about a major overhaul of the antenna system maybe next year. It all depends if I can convince the wife to go to Jamaica.If we do it will be another year of bandaid repairs.If not then I have quotes and plans already for a brand new 56 foot freestanding Delhi tower similar to the one in the pix above,a new rotator and a new antenna, possibly a five band quad instead of the trapped tribander.If I don't get the five band quad I will get a new tribander, either Mosley or Hygain, and rebuild the old A3 in the pictures above for 12 and 17m.I will keep the old tower where it is,to the side and behind the house,and use it soley for 2m and 6m antennas. The new tower will be some distance from the house and will be set up as a tilt over tower and support the HF antennas.I'll run a single feedline of Andrew's LDF4-50 Heliax, along with a spare run of Belden 8214 or similar,and use a remote antenna switch.That should pretty much eat up the Jamaican vacation money.And then some.