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007...are you on the west coast?

CWM,

You story about corona and also moving 5 feet taking the antenna out of resonance hits home with me.

A while back I was sitting in front of the house parked yacking on 75m after a short drive. I was putting 500 watts into my Hi-Q 4" coil with a 3' whip on top. Keep in mind that the base of my antenna is about 4'-5' off the ground, so the total height is about 12.5'. Well, it turns out that the tip of the whip was near some small branches of the tree I was parked next to and I didn't have a decent sized corona ball on it at the time. When my wife came out of the house pointing at my antenna with big wide eyes, I thought she was doing her typical, "you're a big dork with your big ugly antenna" schtick. When I got out of the vehicle, she asked me if I knew that about a foot long blue flame/arc was coming out of my antenna and hitting the tree! Fortunately I didn't damage any equipment, but man I bet my face turned ghost white when she said that!

Eventually I took the whip off and just run around the city with a 18" cap hat 1' above the coil. It was just too touchy on 75/80m with the whip coming close to every tree, sign, etc. and the amp would always kick off because of wild SWR fluctuations. I ran with the cap hat and the whip for a while which worked really well, but it just wasn't practical in the city. Now with just the coil and cap hat I can yack all I want without having swr fluctuation problems. Then when I park, like when I'm camping, I either put the whip back on, or better yet, attach a 12' telescoping whip on it and really talk. Even when I do that, I still leave the cap hat on. It really makes a difference.

<blockquote data-quote="Moleculo" data-source="post: 101230" data-attributes="member: 1">007...are you on the west coast?CWM,You story about corona and also moving 5 feet taking the antenna out of resonance hits home with me.A while back I was sitting in front of the house parked yacking on 75m after a short drive.&nbsp; I was putting 500 watts into my Hi-Q 4&quot; coil with a 3&#039; whip on top.&nbsp; Keep in mind that the base of my antenna is about 4&#039;-5&#039; off the ground, so the total height is about 12.5&#039;.&nbsp; Well, it turns out that the tip of the whip was near some small branches of the tree I was parked next to and I didn&#039;t have a decent sized corona ball on it at the time.&nbsp; When my wife came out of the house pointing at my antenna with big wide eyes, I thought she was doing her typical, &quot;you&#039;re a big dork with your big ugly antenna&quot; schtick.&nbsp; When I got out of the vehicle, she asked me if I knew that about a foot long blue flame/arc was coming out of my antenna and hitting the tree!&nbsp; Fortunately I didn&#039;t damage any equipment, but man I bet my face turned ghost white when she said that!Eventually I took the whip off and just run around the city with a 18&quot; cap hat 1&#039; above the coil.&nbsp; It was just too touchy on 75/80m with the whip coming close to every tree, sign, etc. and the amp would always kick off because of wild SWR fluctuations.&nbsp; I ran with the cap hat and the whip for a while which worked really well, but it just wasn&#039;t practical in the city.&nbsp; Now with just the coil and cap hat I can yack all I want without having swr fluctuation problems.&nbsp; Then when I park, like when I&#039;m camping, I either put the whip back on, or better yet, attach a 12&#039; telescoping whip on it and really talk.&nbsp; Even when I do that, I still leave the cap hat on.&nbsp; It really makes a difference.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Moleculo, post: 101230, member: 1"] 007...are you on the west coast? CWM, You story about corona and also moving 5 feet taking the antenna out of resonance hits home with me. A while back I was sitting in front of the house parked yacking on 75m after a short drive. I was putting 500 watts into my Hi-Q 4" coil with a 3' whip on top. Keep in mind that the base of my antenna is about 4'-5' off the ground, so the total height is about 12.5'. Well, it turns out that the tip of the whip was near some small branches of the tree I was parked next to and I didn't have a decent sized corona ball on it at the time. When my wife came out of the house pointing at my antenna with big wide eyes, I thought she was doing her typical, "you're a big dork with your big ugly antenna" schtick. When I got out of the vehicle, she asked me if I knew that about a foot long blue flame/arc was coming out of my antenna and hitting the tree! Fortunately I didn't damage any equipment, but man I bet my face turned ghost white when she said that! Eventually I took the whip off and just run around the city with a 18" cap hat 1' above the coil. It was just too touchy on 75/80m with the whip coming close to every tree, sign, etc. and the amp would always kick off because of wild SWR fluctuations. I ran with the cap hat and the whip for a while which worked really well, but it just wasn't practical in the city. Now with just the coil and cap hat I can yack all I want without having swr fluctuation problems. Then when I park, like when I'm camping, I either put the whip back on, or better yet, attach a 12' telescoping whip on it and really talk. Even when I do that, I still leave the cap hat on. It really makes a difference. [/QUOTE]

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