I didn't think ice was all that conductive seeing that it's basically distilled water or condensed which is the same in my eyes and only achieved at different temperatures and should have no conductive impurities but to my surprise I awoke to a higher than normal swr and after some deducing I arrived at the notion that ice might be the culprit but with no scientific facts but then the cber took over and I scaled the snow covered roof of my house and proceeded to disasemble this portion of my antenna.
Seeing that it's the only possible place where a shorting affect might occur.
I removed the portion where the gamma match attaches to the conversion point which is an SO-239 connector that you would find on the rear of a cb radio and or amplifier which was definitely covered with ice and dried it with a hair drier and then sealed it well with some silicone sealant(maybe not the best thing to use) but it's all I had on hand at the time and seeing how the dx is rolling I chose to throw caution to the wind and viola it did not create any adverse affects and I am now back on the air with normal swr of 1.2:1.
Seeing that it's the only possible place where a shorting affect might occur.
I removed the portion where the gamma match attaches to the conversion point which is an SO-239 connector that you would find on the rear of a cb radio and or amplifier which was definitely covered with ice and dried it with a hair drier and then sealed it well with some silicone sealant(maybe not the best thing to use) but it's all I had on hand at the time and seeing how the dx is rolling I chose to throw caution to the wind and viola it did not create any adverse affects and I am now back on the air with normal swr of 1.2:1.
