Weird 15 meter problem

[Jim Sheldon]

Just had a totally weird SWR problem on 15 meters.  Was trying to work the T33A Banaba Island DXpedition and the KAT500 antenna tuner kept jumping into tune, and faulting the KPA500 on Hi Reflected power.  Everything worked fine on all other bands except 15.  Checked all the connections and cables with everything checking fine.  Went outside and looked at the A3S tribander through a good set of binoculars.  It appeared that a spider (turned out to be a Black Widow) had made a fresh web right across the feedpoint of the antenna.  Funny, but it must have just been wet enough to really upset the resonance.  I got the belt & gloves out, climbed the tower and destroyed the spider, it's web and the eggs she had just laid.  Hit everything with some "spider killer" spray and then some WD-40 to get rid of the residue.  Back down to the shack and everything was back to normal.  

Never had a spider create that kind of problem before and it was only on 15 meters!  The tuner and amp sure didn't like it though.

Jim - W0EB
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[Mike Furrey]

Great Read Jim!

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Jim Sheldon" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 3:14 PM
To: "Elecraft Mailing List" <[hidden email]>
Subject: [Elecraft] Weird 15 meter problem

> Just had a totally weird SWR problem on 15 meters.  Was trying to work the
> T33A Banaba Island DXpedition and the KAT500 antenna tuner kept jumping
> into tune, and faulting the KPA500 on Hi Reflected power.  Everything
> worked fine on all other bands except 15.  Checked all the connections and
> cables with everything checking fine.  Went outside and looked at the A3S
> tribander through a good set of binoculars.  It appeared that a spider
> (turned out to be a Black Widow) had made a fresh web right across the
> feedpoint of the antenna.  Funny, but it must have just been wet enough to
> really upset the resonance.  I got the belt & gloves out, climbed the
> tower and destroyed the spider, it's web and the eggs she had just laid.
> Hit everything with some "spider killer" spray and then some WD-40 to get
> rid of the residue.  Back down to the shack and everything was back to
> normal.
>
> Never had a spider create that kind of problem before and it was only on
> 15 meters!  The tuner and amp sure didn't like it though.
>
> Jim - W0EB
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html 

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