Cables …

Finally, after many months of procrastination, I revamped the complete set of coax cables that I use in my radio station. Thanks to Paddy / VU2PEP for pointing me to the right source for my cable requirement. I replaced all the aging lengths of RG-213 and RG-58 with LMR-400. Also took this opportunity to mount my KK1L 2 x 6 Antenna Switch.

AntSwitch-1  AntSwitch-2

This ensured that I now have only two runs of cable into the shack. I used LMR-200 for antenna terminations and in the shack as it it easier to work with. Used crimp connectors and found them to be a breeze to work with.

Monkeying around…

It was an unusually rainy morning and it took some persuasion to get out and get to work. On the way, I received a call from the XYL and she told me that we had a problem; a monkey was sitting atop my antenna tower. He was comfortably settled at the mount point of the HF yagi and was trying to shake the tower. When the XYL tried to scare him away, he got very agitated and went on to wrench off my 5/8th VHF GP. He then hurled the fiberglass-clad radiating element at her! No injuries, but my antenna count is down by one. This must be a monkey’s version of road-rage!

The VHF GP with the radiating element missing.

The ripped off fiberglass enclosed element

On inspection this morning, he seems to have vented his fury only on the VHF antenna and seems to have left the others alone. However, I will have to lower the tower and make a closer visual inspection this weekend. Thankfully, I did not bump into this antenna-throwing primate up there!

Time to install my new MA-3000 VHF/UHF collinear!