Finally some sunshine out here.
No sightings of Noah's ark yet.
Been looking at once again working on the Hygain TH3jr beam that I put up last year. Everytime I have made plans to work on the antenna it has rained like they days of Noah. Rain coming down so hard that the sound of it pounding on the roof would drown out the sound on my TV set. Rain so hard that it would bounce several times before settling into a puddle. Think instant standing water on the roadways.I can almost hear Gene Kelly on the roof.
)
The Hygain TH3jr is still a decent performer.
Even with the Beam not performing as good as it should it has been a good performer for me with all the 10M openings lately into Europe from the Northwest portion of Washington state. Usually if I can hear them I can work them with 100 watts.The TH3jr beam has been an excelent performer for me the last year or so. Even with the SWR's slightly off. Switching between the Hygain beam and the Cushcraft R5, I can hear the difference in signal strength, even with the R5 at the same 35ft height as the beam.
Yet another beam saga.
I did receive a TH7DXX something or other last winter from a ham that was getting rid of antennas that I still need to get up in the air. In order to put the bigger beam up I will have to stiffen up the mast that I am using, and also install a rotor to turn the antenna around. Right now I use an Armstrong rotor to turn the beam around to different headings. The TH7DXX is MUCH bigger and would require a larger mast as well. Right now I am using a 35ft telescoping pole with the TH3JR beam and spin it by hand.$60 bucks for little plastic caps.
The TH3jr beam needs to be rebuilt as well. Need to eventually spend the $60 bucks for the little plastic covers that go over each end of the traps on each arm. They are severely dried out and cracked.Really, $60 bucks for little pieces of plastic Hygain?