The winds have gone, for now at least the usual 20mph winds have returned.
Time to put he antenna back up. I do like my vertical antenna. the hustler 6-BTV is a good compromise for me with a low visual impact and adequate performance. Living in a valley is never going to be ideal for exiting RF but the 6-BTV does a good job. It does have a fatal flaw in its current un-guyed location. The wind. Living on the west coast, especially bordering the lake district national park means two things weather wise. Wind and rain. rain is ok but every now and again when the swr drifts too much then I have to take the thing down and let it dry out. the other is wind. the aluminium tube and heavy top coil whip the thing about when the wind gets up and one day it'll fail from fatigue.
Now I know where that fatigue is likely to be. The recent winds have given the vertical a slight bend, undetectable when you're up close but from a distance and with a reference point its like the leaning vertivcal of St Bees. It's very unlikely to have affected the performance and reinforces my need for indoor antennas (in-tennas) like my newly constructed Cobwebb.
If you need some inspiration I can really recommend the stealth antenna book by Steve Nichols. Its abosultely full to bursting point of HF antennas of every shape and size, there's bound to one that fits your space. Its quite light on vhf ones but has pointed me in the direction of the cubic quad that is vying for a place on my homebrew list. Soemthing for 2m or 2m & 6m would be nice. I can almost feel the XYL getting cross with me again!
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