|
Fixed!!!!!!!!!!
Finally fixed it! I had a short somewhere in the downlead between the preamp and the ground block. One of the connectors was mine, and one was "factory" installed by SolidSignal. When I cut both connectors off and did a continuity check, both connectors passed, as did the cable. To save multiple trips up & down the ladder, I just replaced the cable. Luckily I had stocked up during the Halloween sale. I checked all of the other connections, and added 3M electrical tape under the weather boots, and then taped over the top of the weather boots.
Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I would have done a check of all cables with my DMM during the original install.
My reception is much better, and I'm getting everything in the Milwaukee markets with no issues. I replaced my rotator (with the cheap Philips/RCA one), and will play around with scan updates for Madison and Rockford. Thanks again to all for the advice and help.
I was originally cursing the 7084 and 8700. I wound up dropping it while installing it, and bent the mast and broke some elements. I repaired the cracked elements with dowel & JB-weld, and believe it or not had continuity across the breaks with just butt-joints. I was able to straighten the mast enough to work, and bend and tighten the gussets on the UHF "yoke" into a workable alignment. All of this damage was caused by me being too lazy to drill out a rivet on the old tripod, and instead trying to drop the setup in the top of a 5 ft tripod (I'm 5'-5"). Believe it or not, I'm an engineer by degree, but engineers do stupid stuff a home all the time!!! The second go-around, I drilled out the rivet, and I'm glad I did because I've had it up & down at least 10 times during setup.
|