Part 2 of..... Antenna solve one problem to only create another.

 

If you have not read Part 1 of this post, go HERE and then make your way back.

To recap, I was having an issue with my Hustler 4BTV vertical antenna, and I discovered that water was making its way into the 15m trap. Once I had the antenna reassembled and back in the upright position, I went into the house to check the SWR. I like to do this whenever I work on the antenna.

To my surprise, the minimum SWR was 2.4:1 on 15m, but10m, 20m, and 40m were all ok. I had taken my time putting the antenna back together, so I really wasn't sure what had happened.

My new SWR on 15M

Antenna...solve one problem only to create another.

 The antenna I have is the Hustler 4BTV, and I have owned it for about four years. I had been noticing that after a couple of days of rain, the SWR on 15 meters would increase.As the weather warmed up, the problem disappeared. My suspicion was that water was making its way into the 15-meter trap and causing the SWR issues.

I waited for a forecast of a few nice, dry days before taking the antenna down for inspection. The first thing I noticed was that I had accidentally covered the drainage slots at the bottom of each trap with electrical tape. If water was getting into the traps, those slots were intended to let it drain out. My first course of action was to remove the tape from all three traps.

RFI is either giving or receiving.

 

Without any RFI issue. 

In my last post, I was on the receiving end of RFI—you can read about that HERE. This post is about being on the other side of the equation: being the source of the RFI.

RFI found and removed

 

LED RFI

Where we live, I have a very quiet noise floor and have enjoyed it for years. Recently, however, while operating on 40 meters, I noticed an offending signal on the Icom IC-7610 waterfall display. The noise repeated approximately every 15 kHz. If a CW signal happened to fall within the hash, I was unable to hear it.