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Dear all, especially Peter.
I had a bit of a problem on 73k today, the TX
started tripping during my QSO with G3LDO at about 12:30. Eventually I had to
reduce the power to a few hundred Watts to sign off.
I went outside, down the full length of the garden
to the ATU to see if anything was wrong. All seemed well but I could hear a
"crackling" noise and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I
eventually looked up at the top of the tree where the aerial passed over a
perspex "Y" on the top of the pole... It was alight! A couple of years worth of
polution must have made it conductive enough for the RF to arc through it to the
metal supporting pole (which is earthed). I watched it with trepidation lest any
burning pieces should drop off and set light to the tree, luckily this didn't
happen and eventually it went out.
I have since replaced the top piece with a new
design, let's see how long that lasts!
This sort of thing always happens when I "fire-up"
on 73k, the Voltages are just so high..
You can just see the flames on this
picture.
73.
Dave
G3YXM.
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