VHF beams taken down . . . Antron 99 back in the air!

My Antron 99 back in the air, and the 4 metre dipole.

Rooftop selfie . . .
EI4DIB and EI2KC

Today the precariously positioned VHF beams were finally taken down. Tony EI4DIB helped me to remove them from the broken stub. We decided there and then that they would not be going back up today. The rotator appears to be shot and the stub pole had broken in the storms. The XY 2m beam has not had much use, while the 3-element 6 metre beam is only used during the summer E season. I decided to put back up my Antron 99, which I find to be a fantastic antenna on the high bands, most particularly 12 metres and 10 metres. In the meantime, I can think of a plan for the VHF beams. The only VHF antenna that we did put back up was my 4 metre dipole, which you can see offset from the pole supporting the Antron in the photo.

Below you can see a video of a contact I made with J38XX in Grenada. I was using 100 watts from the Icom 746 (a lovely radio) into the Antron on 28 Mhz CW. I later worked a number of North American stations on SSB and had a bit of fun.

Just this morning (Monday 10th Feb), I worked HS0ZBS on 10m CW with the Antron. Fine business!

Amsterdam Island FT5ZM update: I now have a total of ten band slots with Amsterdam. I was delighted to get them on 40m CW last night at 00:40. I also got 17 cw today, so now have them worked on all bands from 40 through 10. Is it too much to wonder about a QSO on 80 metres at this late stage?

I finished my latest HF Happenings column today and have sent it off to the editor of Echo Ireland magazine. 

Houston, we've had a problem . . . in fact, two problems

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so here goes . . .

This is my VHF array, sadly damaged by all the recent windstorms. The antennas themselves seem to be fine, but as you can see the stub pole is broke, and I'm pretty sure the rotator is shattered too (it certainly isn't working!) So at the earliest opportunity I will need to get my rescue team up to the QTH for some help to repair the damage. I lowered the array this morning to try to prevent further wind damage. To add insult to injury, two of the wires on my hexbeam are snapped, the 12m wire and the 15m wire. Picture below:

You can see the 15m wire dangling down from the hexbeam here.

The wind storms started on St. Stephen's Day and there's been at least one bad wind storm every week since then. My antennas have taken a heck of a battering. Let's hope the rescue team and I can restore them without too much trouble or expense. Here's hoping . . .