No it isn’t a Swedish Death Metal band, it is what happened to my stupid 2m/70cm antenna.

All was good when it was in the “lowered” position (as above), but things were dicey when it was “fully erect” (see below).

It was obvious that it was an accident waiting to happen, and this week it did. And lessons have been learned:

1. Encasing a slim-jim in 1″ diameter tubing and waterproofing the hell out of it makes it really difficult to get in to should you have to twiddle with it.
2. Hanging said tube antenna of the top end of a 6m kite pole is not to be recommended. Especially if you forget to retract it after “drinkies” and the whole thing telescopes down on itself during the night, shattering the pole, damaging the shed wall and causing the antenna to (for want of a better term) go all on the wonk.

Version 2 is under construction, which will see various improvements/modifications/things that can go wrong.