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Thursday, 10 May 2018

T2LT test failue... but not the T2LT itself

No, this failure is down to some previously unknown damage to my fibreglass mast, a crack is present in another section though this time close to the bottom so I cannot simply remove it and carry on regardless, the crack is a good few cm running up the section.

Repairing fibreglass is a very difficult job and probably harder with a mast so I am forced to render the existing pole scrap unless I can find some other purpose for it, this leaves me with the only option but to replace it, SOTABeams sell these masts at the size I have now (when it was undamaged) for £35 though at time of writing they were out of stock.

I did try hanging the T2LT from a tree as well but this did not work as I could not reach in to climb up the tree safely so it was not to be.

The antenna does appear to receive, however I have no means at present to test the transmit to ensure it did not suffer damage during the house move, though as the driven portion is effectively the centre of the coax (the exposed dielectric with the centre conductor inside) then unless it has somehow broken at the join (unlikely) I see no reason why it would be unable to transmit, however I will have to wait until both payday and when SOTABeams have the masts in stock.

Hopefully I can get the mast replaced in time for the Big Multimode Nets in June, which I should as I do know SOTABeams will have 10m masts in stock by the end of May all being well.

73 de 2E0EIJ/26CT730

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