Posted by Ed Holland on July 28, 2025 at 12:47:24.

Hi Folks, It has been a while since I checked in, but a little more activity recently seems worth sharing. My main HiFER receiving dipole took a strike from a broken tree branch last week. Although the wire survived the initial trouble, removing the hanging branch finished it off. This triggered a run up the tree to put things right. In the process I found the coax (RG6) in the tree had been nibbled by the squirrels! Fortunately I made this a separate section, with a junction at the base of the tree. I put everything back together with new coax, but the system was deaf as a post. Investigation had to wait a week, and this Saturday I took another venture up the ladder. There is a transformer balun at the feedpoint, and a continuity check revealed the coax side to be open circuit. Inside the PVC pipe enclosure I found a broken wire (the coax socket had twisted). I took it all down to the bench for a refurb, and added a sheet metal screw to lock the F connector against rotation. It is all back together and receiving well. Among HiFER captures, were long periods of NC, 7P fading in and out on Sunday morning (July 27th), snippets of WM and other WSPR not identified. Cheers and 73, Ed

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