Time For Some Antenna Work

I woke up a couple of days ago after a windstorm to discover that the SWR on my Hy-Gain AV-640 on 40m was way out of whack (7:1). 30m was also bad. 20m was ok.(1.3:1). I walked outside and saw that one of the 40m capacity hat spokes was bent down and hooked on a 30m spoke. That explains that.

My MFJ-269 Antenna Analyzer also was displaying about 6db of coax loss. I’ve inspected the coax, expecting to find that a little animal had been chewing on it but I see no signs of damage. I suspect the heavy rains (9 inches in October) may be the culprit.

I’ve ordered replacement coax from HRO, and as soon as the ground dries out a bit more I’ll tilt the AV-640 down, fix the 40m spoke problem, and give the whole thing a good inspection. And replace the coax at the same time.