Ok, everyone thanks for all the help. I rebuilt the antenna from new wire, built a two insulator termination at the end of the horizontal section where the high voltage is, I rehung the new antenna so that it doesn't touch anything… and the problem persisted. I then looked into Tom W8JI's suggestion about a bad lightning arrestor, and indeed that was the problem. I had blown the little cartridge in my Alpha Delta lightning stopper.
I don't know why the issue only showed up on a single antenna of the many I have fed through that device. But it did. So Tom, thanks in particular. I did leave the choke balun in place. Who knows if that makes a difference? Everyone, please listen for the weak signal from Western Colorado this weekend. KQ0C Ash On Nov 28, 2012, at 10:30 AM, "Tom W8JI" <[email protected]> wrote: > Remove the balun. It's not doing anything for your and is a potential source > of loss and problems. Coaxial cable is unbalanced, as is a ground-fed > inverted L. No need for a balun. >>> > > Unfortunately, that is not a universally true statement. > > MOST antennas are in a "neither" world of being neither perfectly balanced > nor perfectly unbalanced. > > Perfectly balanced would be equal and opposite currents entering and leaving > each conductor at each end of a balanced line, with equal voltages to the > world around the line from each conductor. > > Perfectly unbalanced would be the same equal and opposite currents entering > and leaving each conductor (shield and center) at each line end, and zero > voltage from the shield to the outside world around the line. > > Very few antenna systems meet that criteria, although Marconi systems with > many radials are close enough to be nearly perfectly unbalanced. Significant > departure from UNbalanced occurs when radial systems are sparse, or > truncated, or the feedline exits above the plane of the radials. There isn't > any clear boundary, but a slow system dependent transition from the perfect > case (feedline exits below the radial plane and an infinite full size radial > system) to the worse case (a single radial of any design). Even four 1/4 wave > radials have significant voltage to "ground" at the common point. > > Choking impedance required varies with the number, configuration, and length > of radials and how the feeder is routed and grounded, and in nearly all cases > a few hundred ohms is enough. An exception might be if the ground system > common point has abnormally high voltages to earth (for example, a single > truncated radial) or if the coax is elevated and coupled to the antenna. > > 73 Tom > > > > _______________________________________________ Topband reflector - [email protected]
