This weekend I was able to get outside on Sunday despite really bad weather and this is what I found:
No wonder it would not tune up.
The cable usually breaks where it passes through the insulator at the 90 degree bend in the inverted L. As shown in an earlier post, it is this insulator which has been up for so long that the majority of the insulator has been engulfed in the branch. It was originally loose, held by some rope around the branch, this was 14 years ago when I first received the M5LMY licence which meant I could get on the HF bands.
Over those 14 years, the branch has gradually grown around the rope, then the insulator so that now more than 50% is buried within the branch. In another 5 to 8 years I guess it will disappear altogether.
The cable breaks at this point as there is no flexibility with the insulator so the cable is rubbing on the fixed insulator and wears through.
The weather yesterday has really bad. Raining for much of the day with some intense bursts along with thunder and lightning. The following is from my weather station, the red line showing rainfall:
In total today we had 22.4mm of rain.
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