As you well know Ron, that heating method works great on any closed loop antenna. I still have my old 304t_ filament transformer around for such occasions. It's good for 5 vac. @ 100 amps. Does a good job on conductive pipes that may freeze up which is normally not a problem here in Western Washington.
Carry-on K2Bill#973 > Lo' these all-too-many-winters ago there were actual reports of Hams using > folded dipoles with open wire line in heavy ice/snow regions. As y'all > probably know, a folded dipole has a direct current continuity across the > feeders, since it's essentially a dipole with an extra wire running parallel > to the dipole radiator and connected at each end. > > If a dangerously heavy ice coating appeared, they'd connect the feeders to a > variable power source and allow enough current to flow to heat the wires and > melt the ice. Took a while, but it beat trying to splice and raise the > antenna again in mid-winter. > > Being a "California Boy" in those days - Southern California at that - I > never really had any need to test the idea first-hand. While others were > snowed and iced-in up to their end-insulators, we were praying for a few > drops of rain before the dry season resumed in the spring. > > Ron AC7AC > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
