Broken Element: Clean Off

The 10 meter yagi at SEØX is broken… again! The tip of the front director have been broken “clean off” in a way that reminds me of a classic movie quote by Clint Eastwood:

‘this is a 44 Magnum the most powerful handgun in the world, it will blow your head clean off and you have to ask yourself one question, do I feel lucky?’

Well, I don’t (feel lucky) as this happened several times! As a matter of fact it happened almost every winter in recent years and I assumed it was heavy gusts of wind overpowering the aging material of the beam. Now I am not so sure anymore…

Antenna tip cut clean off

All elements where recently replaced to avoid the problem, but apparently it did not help and the rough costal wind won another victory over mankind. The aluminium you are looking at in the above photo is only 14 months old, and I am amazed how neatly cut the element is. Time to bring the tower down… again.

73 de Björn, SMØMDG