The high winds recently appeared to impact the 5775 repeater by inducing noise onto transmissions – notably on lower strength received signals. The antenna was the prime suspect and on Sunday 8th, the wind kindly abated so we could investigate.
The antenna was removed, and the radome joiner persuaded to unscrew with the aid of the correct size fixed spanners…
So off to the workshop where the antenna internals was given a once over.
The internals of antenna were in very good condition given the 10’s of years it had been in operation. The obvious corrosion was cleaned off and threaded sections given a smear of lanocote. Nothing obvious was noted that might have caused the noise. The antenna is centered inside the radome with sponge balls at positions along its length. The top end of the antenna was a bit unstable. so a replacement stay was installed. The antenna was reassembled and reinstalled. To date, the crackling has not been noticed, but neither have we had the strong winds again (yet!).