LeoG

Of course I do. But I'm not tearing my system up until it gets warmer out. I might have the opportunity to heat up the lightning arrester and fittings to see if the SWR moves when I thaw the water in that connection if it even exists there. If nothing happens it's at the antenna. I'm tending to think that is going to be the problem area because the antenna fitting was wrapped on the ground and it has that aluminum shroud over it for protection. It seems like it would be the hardest to be infiltrated. While the lightning arrester is down stream and the water would flow down the cable. I have my drip loop and did what I could so the arrestor wasn't at the bottom of the run. But my bet is the issue is there if it's not a defect in my antenna.

So weird. 21ºF seems to be the magic number, or so I assume. That's when it happened when I was monitoring it. And last night I was monitoring it because the temps were suppose to fall also. But by the time I went to bed at 1am the temps had only gotten to 24º and the SWR remained at 2.06. The coax had more than enough time to freeze since it got below freezing about 6pm and was dropping about 1º per hour. It hit 21º about 5am. I wasn't up to see that but when I did check about 8am (20º) the SWR was at 1.16. The lightning arrester is near the entry point of the house so maybe the warming effect of the coax in the house is slowing the freezing down. The attic isn't heated so it's not like the cable is 65º on the other side of the wall. And there's no guarantee the issue is at the lightning arrester and not the antenna. Just more to the mystery.

Try this program to see if you have a chance of communication between the two stations. It doesn't account for curvature of the Earth so at 13 miles there is a little of that involved. Put in both points and antenna heights and see if you have line of site. It's not 100% needed and if a small portion of a hill impedes the signal it'll still get through. But if you have a large hill or hills in the way it's going to be DOA. Only chance you may have is a local repeater that is high enough for LOS to both stations. https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/

I have no adapters in my house system other than the ones on the SWR meter 239>N. I do have a PL239 to Male N 90º on my repeater system to allow the coax to get to the back of the repeater. I'm over 90% confident there is water in a fitting or coax then when it freezes negates the problem of the water. It's 40ºF right now but I'm at work so I can't test it. It's not going below freezing tonight I believe so the SWR is likely to be at 2.09 again when I get home. Contacted the wife and it sounded better than I thought it would being as warm as it is. So maybe I'll be proved wrong. I'm doubting it though.

On some of his videos, when he does imply, he says the govt won't do anything about small infractions.

I can reach those fittings without the need to remove the antenna or a bucket truck.

Well I came up with a test that I might be able to do. It won't be at the antenna, but it'll be at the lightning arrester. I was thinking about taking a hair dryer or heat gun and heat up the fittings to thaw them. If the SWR goes up I know the fittings or lightning arrester is the culprit. If nothing happens it's got to be the antenna or it's fitting..

Well temps been rising and got to 23º and the SWR is still 1.19, so it's not strictly temperature related. Sounds like the freezing just took time to happen.

Well, my radio at the house is on 24/7 so if I'm in range my wife can hear. But it is through local repeater, so you have to depend on them. I need to get a quadruple receive radio so I can monitor all 4 repeaters in my area LOL.

As soon as he said mountainous region the answer was probably not. Running with your buddies it would probably work. As an emergency device in a rural area not so much.

Wow, it's pretty abrupt. The temps have been dropping pretty consistently today. 35º expected to go to about 10ºF tonight. So I've put a timer on and every 1/2 hour I've been checking the SWR. Been sitting at 2.08 for most of the morning and day. Each time I checked the temp. Starting at 31º is when I was doing the 1/2 hour checks. It got down to 23º and it was still 2.08. 1/2 hour later I checked and it's 1.19 now. So I wasn't able to catch it decreasing. It'll stay here til it gets above freezing again. I'm just wondering why it took so long to freeze up or change SWR. Not sure if there's a direct correlation to water turning to ice or that the ice reached 21º because I don't know when the ice forms.

Well, above freezing and rain all day. SWR 2.20. Seems to really affect my reception

Don't drop it then.

Sure, keep looking. I won't need it for a while. Thanks.

That's what the Chevron Deference was about. Agencies pumping out regulation and then they get to be rule maker, regulator, judge, jury, and prosecutor along with them keeping the fines they impose on people/companies.

There is no rule of law. It's regulation. They treat it like law, but it's not.

Not enough selectivity with the tones. I have my repeater on 100 and 7 miles away there is a repeater on 103.4. On occasion I can trigger it with my base. I kept getting this full quieting signal on occasion so I played with the tones only to find out all I had to do is go up one and there it was.

They have people there who job it is is to make rules. When all the rules are made do you think they will resign? No, this is the govt. They'll just make up more rules to justify their position.

Well I knew a bird struck an antenna. Thought it was a Laird, at least Laird was in the title.

Yep, I was pretty bummed myself. Looked like the perfect product to do exactly what I wanted. eBay has 20 tubes for sale, but I only need one.

It is a 2pc antenna but not in the sense that there is an opening for water to get into. The brass screw coupler seems sealed on the top and lower sections of the antenna and have a rubber O ring between them. Anything is possible with water. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CF9DV3ZM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Not really worried about the price from an $80 to $140 antenna. You only buy it once (as I'm buying my second). But there are limits. No need for a $1400 or $2300 antenna. Thought I heard on the forum someone had a bird hit their Laird antenna and it splintered into pcs. Right now I'm running some chynese generic antenna with a 7.2dBi gain (5dBd) and most of them look the same. The Browning doesn't have a ground plane, nor does it have a sleeve that covers the antenna connector. Both which give me apprehension.

And correction on my coax type. I do have LMR400 at the shop, @50'. But at the house I have M&P Hyperflex 13, @84'. A 60' section to the lightning arrester and 24' from there to the antenna. Lightning arrester is type N connectors.

Hit 32º at 5:19 this morning and it's 8:30 and 36º currently in my backyard. So plenty of time for any ice in my coax/connectors/antenna to liquify. My SWR is at 2.08. I don't have full quieting with my repeater currently and the Holyoke repeater is at 1/2 scale instead of full quieting like it was yesterday during the cold. As always the other 2 repeaters are full quieting. I'm starting to see a trend.