A recent inquiry for pictures of the antenna caused me to visit it with my digital camera. I had not done so for about a year and was shocked by what I found. In essence, the antenna is falling apart. Several flimsy construction techniques simply haven't survived well in this climate. In retrospect, this antenna should probably be guyed in virtually any location as it simply does not handle wind well. It is too heavy and has too much surface area. In the pictures below you can click on the picture and display a 1200x1792 original of the same picture. Average size of the larger pictures is around 500kb.
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This is one of the prime culprits in the aging of the antenna. Several sections are held together with stainless-steel sheet metal screws. Over time these work loose and must be tightened. As they are tightened multiple times the hole they are in wears larger and eventually the screws simply won't hold. In my case, I had not tightened them up for a few years and they simply fell out. I found some of them but to get the antenna back to normal I'll need a ladder and three more stainless steel screws. |
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At the left we see two loose screws at the base. At the right, two screws in the same base have fallen out. One can only wonder why two stainless 10-32 bolts weren't used instead of the sheet metal screws. |
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Here at the first joint above the base all four screws have fallen out. Also note in the picture on the left the amount of plastic that has worn off onto the stub due to flexing in the wind. |
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Look carefully and you'll see a hole in the aluminum just to the left of the insulator for the counterpoise. This is where the "pop" rivet used to be attached to the support. Had the support been attached all of the way through the metal and the other side of the insulator, this would have been fine. |
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The counterpoise has bent and sagged under its own weight. This probably doesn't effect performance much although I did rotate it to get it off of the ground where it had bent too much to clear the ground. |
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Lastly, the elements continue to skew as the primitive insulators and attachments move in the wind. |
Am I unhappy about all of this? Of course not. This is an extreme environment. In addition, any antenna choice is invariably a compromise. This is now my backup station antenna and does that job well. As soon as I can get some more stainless steel machine screws and lock washers, I'll get the ladder out and finish restoring the antenna.