No Wonder I Was Getting A Poor SWR !!

A week ago I tried to tune my FT2000 on 40m via the external SGC Smart Tuner but it would not tune up and the meter on the FT2000 was showing an infinite SWR, not good!.

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.

Checking My Inverted L Antenna

I have two antennas at home, an off centre dipole and an Inverted L. The Inverted  L has been up since the year 1999 when I first received the M5LMY licence and could operate on HF.

This antenna is fed at the base of the vertical section by an SGC auto tuner. The vertical section is about 5m tall and the horizontal section about 7m long with both sections strung within some oak trees.

Had the opportunity today to check the Inverted L, the first time in a year. In the 14 years that this antenna has been in use, the insulator at the bend from vertical to horizontal has become almost fully embedded within the supporting tree branch. This insulator was free when installed, held to the tree by some Kevlar rope wrapped around the branch. In the 14 years, the branch has grown and almost taken the full insulator. See the following photo:

A bit difficult to see as the photo was taken into the sun, however only the hole for the wire and a small bit of the insulator body is still free. The main part of the body and the hole at the opposite end for the supporting rope has fully disappeared into the branch.

The following photo shows the horizontal section running to the tree at the end of the garden.

The wire almost rubs against the branch in the foreground, I wanted to check that the insulation has not been worn through, however it was in good condition. As can be seen, the wire is fully within the trees.

The following photo shows the auto tuner at the base of the vertical section.

This is an SGC model SG-230. This is the second one I have had since 1999. the first failed around 2002. The replacement has worked perfectly since.

The two yellow/green wires at the base of the tuner connect to a copper earth rod, from this a single wire runs under the earth beneath the horizontal section in the air.

This set-up was originally used by my TS2000 and now supports the FT2000. It supports operation on all bands between 80m and 10m which is very good for such a small system. Obviously performance is a very big compromise, however for a simple antenna that does not stand out in the garden it work really well.