HF Antenna(s) Rebuild

[TailGator911]

As I mentioned before, I recently went to an SDR site with 'live' transmissions and tried to chase them down with my R8600 and R75 without much luck and I made plans to add a loop antenna and rebuild my end-fed PAR wire. I was very disappointed with my PAR so I decided to add some wire to it, as it was only 40ft of stranded (coated) wire. When I got up there I was shocked to find that my coax feed from the PAR had been chewed and almost shredded by squirrels (they have done the same to CATV over the years) I could see center conductor, so no wonder my signal was shot! I replaced with 75ft wire and put in a whole new feed. What a difference! I also added the W6LVP loop outside, about 4ft high on a heavy duty loudspeaker stand and just outside my radio room window which only needed about a 15-ft coax run. After all was said and done, I went back to the SDR site and started dialing. MUCH better now. Also chasing signal from my UDXF logs emails. Again, WHAT a difference. Very satisfied with my hf setup now. PBT on Icom radios absolutely rocks, too. I am, once again, rediscovering HF radio.

JD
kf4anc

PS: I knew something was amiss as to why my hf reception was so crappy. Amazing how much damage them little critters can do.

 

[Radioman77]

The critters can really do damage. Chewed the TV cable so bad I lost signal. I just chased one off of my 55' tower. Have to find a way to keep them away from the cables. Amazing what good antenna's and cable can do for reception. John

 

[dlwtrunked]

One thing not to do is to string coax or any wiring/rope while wearing suntan lotion. That will attract the critters more to go over after the nice smelling cable. I suspect putting something like pepper or something else will help discourage things like this. (Hot things will discourage animals like squirrels but not bird--it is used to keep squirrels away from bird food.)