Friday night was very windy over here on the east coast and when I went to bed I noticed that there was more noise than normal coming through my aerials. Normally I can hear the wind gently whistling through the mast and the Hexbeam but there was an actual rattle coming from somewhere which is unusual.
The wind had dropped a bit by Saturday morning but I could still hear some rattling from the outside which I quickly traced to be coming from the area where my 10m vertical is located and by looking out of the window I could see the top part of the aerial hanging down.
A quick trip outside confirmed that my Sirio Gain Master vertical for 10m had folded over completely, having broken just above the bottom join. You can see it here and I’ve highlighted the fold.
The pole is mounted on the side of the house above a flat roof and the area where I normally put the ladder is well shielded from the wind so with the help of M6DHU I was able to quickly get up there, unbolt the pole and lower the aerial. Here’s a closer version of the break with the same area highlighted.
The centre radiating element appears undamaged so technically it’s repairable but I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet as I don’t really use it too much. When I’m operating on 10m, I tend to use the Hexbeam although it can be handy with the vertical during contests. A good friend, M0YNK has a Sirio 2016 and I’m thinking it might be a better option, if I decide to replace it.
I’m not too upset about the aerial breaking as I suspected it was going to snap when the winds really kicked up towards the end of last year, I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did!