Interesting timing Bruce!
Last week I had noticed my NW/SE 2 wire Beverage acting funny, poor F/B in
particular along with it being noisy.
It turned out to be the ground rod clamp had loosened, the screws doing the
clamping and holding the #12 wire were completely rusted. This rod had been
in the ground about 23 years and had been used on a different single wire
Beverage.
In addition the rod was actually quite loose and the clamping itself rather
corroded. Ive alternated over the years between soldering to the rod or
clamping purely due to having one on hand or having to make a 15 mile round
trip to HD. In this case the 2nd rod is soldered.
The rod is a utility grade with no rust anywhere and with the clamp wire
brushed, and SS hardware performance is as expected.
Carl
KM1H
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce" <k1fz@myfairpoint.net>
To: <topband@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2013 12:59 PM
Subject: Topband: BOG antenna
My South-East 160 foot BOG antenna lost its reasonably wide band width.
Suspected and replaced the termination resistor resulted in the same
symptoms. Checked the BOG wire for a possible break and it was also OK.
Connected a resistor across the BOG transformer, antenna side, and it was
good. It was getting to be a head scratcher. Finally an ohmmeter check to
the ground rod connection showed a high resistance. Cleaned the ground
rod connection area, tightened the clamp, and soldered it. The BOG antenna
is now working well again.
Like most of us, when the width goes bad we look at the far end
termination, but in the case surprisingly it was at the near end.
I am not giving other details for naysayer discussion purposes. Posting
this information only to possibly help others.
73
Bruce-K1FZ
www.qsl.net/k1fz/beveragenotes.html
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