Hello LF group,

Althought I've been very inactive over the last month or so (my last
QSO was on 28th Nov on 500) I've kept the grabber running. I've been
busy with other things and radio has taken a back seat for a while.

Unfortunately the grabber is out of action at the moment due to antenna
damage.

Shetland has been in the teeth of a severe storm for the last 24 hours
(not unusual) with winds of continuous force 8 and periods up to 9 and
10. My fibreglass pole usually handles these storms quite gracefully,
even if it looks alarming as it flexes in the wind, since it's guyed at
4 levels from 2m up to 11m.

This morning however I woke to find one of the pole sections had
snapped just above one of the joints. I've braved the elements and
lowered the whole antenna to the ground until I can obtain a
replacement pole section from Spiderbeam.

The wind is still howling at force 8 - 9 so I'm not intending
venturing out to investigate the cause of the failure until the storm
abates...


Regards and I hope to be back QRV (both with the grabber and on the
key) in the near future.

Cheers,

John

-- 
John GM4SLV
IP90gg
Clousta, Shetland