6M on a Wing and a Prayer!! Let's ge it on.

[Charlie Young]

OK guys, I will make this update short. 

I had numerous problems.  Poor jumper connections at the rig, intermittent.  Fix one thing, something else happened.  The station does not like to sit idle for months apparently. 

The issue I found with the antenna was real, but the SWR was only about 3 or 4 to one.  The much higher VSWR I was seeing most of the time was due to shack issues. 

Once I got the VSWR stabilized at the lower level and it would hold there, I decided to see how much power I could run without arcing .  This was my contingency plan.  Maybe I could work Lance with 800 or 900W. While testing I held about 600W output while watching the reflected power meter.  Looking carefully, I noticed the reflected power reading dropping after about a minute while the output increased.   Suddenly, the reflected power dropped to ZERO with max power output.  The TX would stay in this state until the antenna cooled down.  Well, with EME we don't have to worry about the antenna cooling off 🙂.  During the moon sked, I can and will run 1500W.

I think one of the power divider copper tubing joints where it solders to the connector is loose when cool, but is expanding when hot and making the connection.  The dividers are mounted to the rigid elevation boom, and vibration over time has likely cracked a solder joint.   That is my best guess. '

Let's see if we can work H40GJ 🙂.   I will be on at his moonrise in the morning. 

73 Charlie N8RR 

[Larry Fravel]

Charlie -

Good to know that things are looking up for you in the EME department.  I hope you are right on the problem, can work Lance and then get the solder joint repaired.  Good Luck in the chase.

Larry K8YYY

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