Wow, what WX (weather) we have been having lately – thankfully thunderstorms/lightining have missed me, but the wind and rain had a rather adverse effect on EFHW setup.

The mighty DX Commander classic mast that I used as far end of my 80m UK Antenna EFHW took the full brunt of the winds over the weekend, my weather recorder stating upto 16 knots – and that is at ground level surrounded by bushes/trees!

I looked around for spares and was glad to see I had a spare base-pipe for the mast, but that would mean stripping it down and then feeding the pipe through, so I’d though id see if I can just move the mast a little bit, lose a little height but still clear the bungalows roof.

I was really happy that the mast would continue to function, i rigged it back up with 4 ropes to ensure it should stay up right, no further storms are forecast currently!

I went back to the shack and tested out SSTV on 20M – 1:1 SWR with 100W and my pic using Robot 72 was well received across Europe !

My other antennas and the bullet proof 6BTV was totally uneffected by the weather, but the 2m/70cm mast needs a bit of a push up, but I’m getting older and that antenna is getting heavier… 😉

I was very happy to have a QSO via the ISS Digipeater and received an excellent QSO card from EA2BW.

Until the next post, take care, stay safe & 73’s

2E0FWE