VE6AB Mobile Ops
Spring Tuneup
It is my habit to check out the health of my mobile ham radio system twice a year, going in to winter, and in the spring as I'm seen doing in this photo.
This entails a visual inspection of all the runs of coax from the antennas to the radios mounted in my radio stack. I also will inspect the wiring that runs from the HF mount at the rear to the radio stack, this wiring part of the controller that controls the two 10-80 meter gearmotor antennas seen in the photograph, one mounted in place, and the other lying on the tailgate waiting its turn to be analyzed with the antenna analyzer running a smith chart.
I will also do a visual inspection of the shunt-coil and the mix 31 choke assembly part of the coax mounted just below the HF mount. Although the shunt-coil is mounted in a weather-proofed housing, I will visually check the PL259 connectors just below the shunt-coil where a Amphenol-tee is located. Although the connections are wrapped with silicon tape, I cut the wrappings off, replacing with new silicon tape.
Once a year I also open up the bottom of the mast of my 3" gearmotor antenna, making an inspection of the drive-screw that drives the coil, and cleaning and re-lubing the drive mechanism if required.
When I built the 10-80 gearmotor antenna, I selected sealed ball-bearings to support either end of the drive-screw that drives the coil, eliminating any problems down the road with dry bearings threatening to compromise the operation of the antenna due to seized bearings.
Of course its a requirement that all the whips that are used with my HF antennas are inspected for any issues, possibly due to the braid that is used as a wrap on my fiberglass whip having been damaged due to the odd mishap occurring from a too close contact with tree-limbs. The included cap-hats used up top are also inspected for loose set-screws that hold the assemblys together.
With everything reassembled, the network is checked with my antenna analyzer, I'm good to go for another season of operating mobile.
