Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 — A quick post this morning regarding the station and its ability (inability, actually) to generate usable RF (meaning RF useful for HF communications … right now my RF output could likely have heated my oatmeal this 
morning with a long 3×3 CQ).
I call a statewide net on Mondays, and imagine my surprise when I show up in the shack with about 90 seconds to spare (plenty of time to prep, find the preamble, pad, paper and boot my Windows 98 laptop … not!) and wind up with RF on everything in the shack except my antenna. With my boom-mounted mike, the first syllable keyed the VOX and a full-bore roar of RF took over, keeping the VOX triggeered and pegging the ALC. Yikes!
I thought I might cut the output power back (I’m barefoot anyway!), but the only power level that avoided RF was zero watts, which is not an effective power setting for anything other than making imaginary DX contact with North Korea.
I thoroughly investigated the shack, but nothing seemed out of order … then I remembered the high winds we had late last week. Hmmm ….
I run a non-resonant inverted vee fed with twin-lead … basically it was an emergency antenna I built one Field Day using two 70-foot rolls of Radio Shack antenna wire. Good stuff, by the way! I have a custom center insulator that is also a strain relief for the twin lead. Antenna was up and bionoculars showed all appeared well. WTH???
On closer inspection, one side of the twin-lead was broken and not attached to one leg of the dipole. The twin-lead is 300-ohm TV twin-lead and not the heavier-duty stuff, and I suspect the thin conductor may have worn through from rubbing or impacting against a limb in the tree during the storm.
I’m not back on the air yet … I have to take a torch and some tools out to the antenna in order to get this soldered back together. A busy schedule and lack of good daylight weather has pushed repair off until this weekend. In the meantime I have my propane torch and tools at the ready. Soldering weathered copper and solder joints is always a dicey proposition, particularly when you’re dealing with stranded wire. You clean it as best you can, apply flux and cross your fingers (without dropping the torch, no less).
I considered replacing the 300 ohm feedline while I’m at it, but I won’t. Yeah, I like the heavier 450 ohm ladder line, but given my antenna situation — a tree supported inverted vee — the more flexible and lighter TV twinlead has outlasted any of the 450 ohm feedlines I have used. One of the issues has been the window line cracking due to the steady high winds we get here on the hill. I plan to fix what’s broken and not fix what’s not.
Say what you will about cheap-ass TV twinlead, but I’m going to stay with what works.
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