The antenna was fitted with 6 guy ropes with 3 about 1/3 of the way up and 3 about 2/3 of the way up the antenna the two groups of guy lines were equally spaced around the antenna and secured to large fence posts and one of the small sheds. This appeared to be holding up and working well during the first two storms. Unfortunately as the third storm was reaching its peak at least one of the guy lines snapped initiating a complete structural collapse of the antenna. The bottom section of alloy tubing was badly bent with two of the upper sections and one trap also damaged in the collapse.
The guy lines used on this antenna were made from the same so called 'para cord', green woven outer covering containing 11 individual strands. The same cord was also used for stringing up a few wire antennas that survived the storms only to be brought down the following week as we got battered by another storm with high winds and heavy hail.
Beware of cheap 'para-cord' ! There are many products available that are sold as para cord or shock cord that may be fine for light duty use but simply do not have the tensile strength to be reliable in harsh weather conditions. I have repaired the damaged trap and straightened out two of the three bent sections of tubing, The bottom tube section was the most severely bent and will most likely have to be replaced.
I will be investing in some proper heavy duty, high strength, 'tried and tested' para-cord from a reputable supplier of antenna hardware when the vertical is reapaired and re-erected in springtime.
Like many things, going for the cheap option may do the job under low stress conditions, but will inevitably fail when conditions deteriorate. It is simply not strong enough to handle elevated stress and high peak loading during storm conditions.
I should have known better but instead of waiting until I could get some good quality high strength cord I used the cheap stuff that I already had in a rush to get the vertical on air.
Learn from my mistake. Use proper high strength para-cord or proper guy rope from a reputable supplier and avoid the cheaper options found online.
73 de MM7WAB, Hairy Paul, Ayrshire, S.W.Scotland.
