Really solid guid on maintenance schedules. The part about water in coax connectors really caught my attention becuz that's something that can degrade slowly without obvious symptoms until it's too late. I've had similar issues with corrosion on marine equipment, and proactive inspecton is definitly the way to go.
A couple of years ago, I installed a brand new VHF antenna. It was up for about a week, had a rainstorm, all of a sudden the SWR went to heck in a hand basket. I had to climb up take it down pull the antenna apart and seal it because it had not been properly sealed at the factory. Lots of rainwater got in. One thing I learned over the years doing military communications was to take some electrical tape and wrap it around the coax up to the connector of the antenna in an upward fashion from the bottom up so that it overlaps. That helps to prevent water in grass.
Really solid guid on maintenance schedules. The part about water in coax connectors really caught my attention becuz that's something that can degrade slowly without obvious symptoms until it's too late. I've had similar issues with corrosion on marine equipment, and proactive inspecton is definitly the way to go.
A couple of years ago, I installed a brand new VHF antenna. It was up for about a week, had a rainstorm, all of a sudden the SWR went to heck in a hand basket. I had to climb up take it down pull the antenna apart and seal it because it had not been properly sealed at the factory. Lots of rainwater got in. One thing I learned over the years doing military communications was to take some electrical tape and wrap it around the coax up to the connector of the antenna in an upward fashion from the bottom up so that it overlaps. That helps to prevent water in grass.