Of course in the USA, there are places where towers are covered with ice and antennas are drooping from the weight. Here in Israel, at my QTH, there has been an abundance of rain this year. The wind that accompanies the rain is not really welcome by me since I can hear the wind rumble through my tower; that just makes me nervous.
Which brings me to the subject of securing those guy wires and other antenna / tower restraints. Lately I have seen some videos of some incredibly poor practices when it comes to erecting towers and masts. It is absolutely true that you cannot defy the laws of physics.
The good news is that most hams are not shy about going to experts when it comes to tower raising and guy wires. However, be sure to re-visit your tower situation as time passes to make sure that your guys and tower structure is still solid.
As a boat owner, I had old shrouds (shrouds are the cables that "guy" the mast) that were long due for replacement. In many locations, insurance companies won't cover a sailboat unless the shrouds are replaced after a number of years (like 7 years or so). The cables that are used may look just fine, and chances are they might be great for 15 years, but if they break, then the mast will fall, and a lot of bad things could happen.
The guys on your tower also endure stress, although not nearly as much as the shrouds on a sailboat, but the shrouds on a boat are built to take it. I guess the point is to go out there and check those guy wires and also check the hardware that is anchoring those guys. Replace whatever needs to be replaced, and NEVER go without temporary guys if you are replacing an old cable.
As far as winter goes, antennas can suffer a lot. Back when I lived in Memphis, we had an ice storm that was just unreal. My Cushcraft 4 element tribander was covered with ice and bent like a drawn bow. It survived. Try to buy the toughest antennas you can afford to stand up to the elements.
Will these elements survive the elements?
Speaking of antennas, if your SWR suffers when it is soaking wet out there, well you are not alone. Water can screw up antennas. Usually when they dry out then everything is okay. Coax and your connections is a real weakspot however. If water gets into the jacket of your coax, then you will have corrosion and a poor performing transmission line. Make sure that water cannot get into your coax.
Two weeks ago, I had a crazy SWR. I went up the tower after a storm and discovered that the shield of my coax that was connected to one side of my driven element was corroded to being useless...even though it was still attached to the terminal on the element. This was a connection that I made only 2 years ago. Water and wind had done the job and corroded the braided wires of the coax shield to being non-conductive. I cut away the bad wires and reworked the connection to the driven element. The SWR is now just fine.
In the winter when you see that SWR go up, then it can be water or corrosion. Don't get too bent out of shape, but go up on that tower using appropriate safety procedures and fix those connections or even replace bad coax. Your SWR will come back to normal and you will be putting that RF where it should be...into your driven element.
Finally, operating in winter presents some challenges. Rain, ice, snow...not really the ham's best friends, but they can be endured and overcome. For me, having a good heater in the shack is really my main focus on operating during the winter. If I am toasty in the shack, then even if conditions are not ideal for DX, I can still sit and work on whatever project is sitting on the workbench. So perhaps for winter this year, it is a good idea to have a project as a back up plan for when things are not working due to weather.
A Collins PTO rebuild...a worthy indoor winter project
So how are your antennas and/or tower(s) holding up this winter? I hope just fine.
73
Mark 4x1ks
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