My Butternut HF6V ground mounted vertical antenna stopped tuning during the middle of winter. It worked well for RTTY roundup but several weeks later I noticed it no longer was hearing any signals on any band. We happened to be having one of the harshest winters in recent memory with lots and lots of snow and since this antenna resides in the woods the snow depth is 3-4 feet so I decided to wait till spring to work on it.
Spring was late this year. Our area experienced a record setting snow season so I waited till May to venture into the woods and inspect the situation. I disconnected the tuning stub at the base and checked for continuity, but it showed an open back to the shack. Checking from the shack towards the antenna showed a short-- -so multiple problems. The 75 ohm coax matching stub connects to hardline from the shack so I carefully sliced, unwrapped and extracted the "n" connector and realized the transition on the stub coax was bad. I decided to bring the matching stub into the shack for easier reassembly.
The female "n" connector had come apart and shorted the braid to the center conductor and the spade lug end which connects to the antenna base had broke--thus a short from one end and an open from the other. The snow load probably caused some of this so I tried to make this a more robust connection adding a small length of wire to the spade lug end so it will have more ability to move and the hardline to matching stub connection I supported better since it's on the ground.
After reassembly and testing okay, I was pleased to hear signals on all the bands this antenna is engineered to tune. The summer noise levels are rather high but it's nice to have this antenna back in service and next winter will hopefully survive unscathed.
73---Tim
