One contact with my XYL Fran N2KMA on 2M HTs inside our house.  About the only working VHF antennas I have that are not encased in at least a 1/4 inch of radial ice and under approximately 5:1 SWR.   Could actually do it on 4 bands and quadruple the score.  Sad thing is it’s probably good enough to win my section SOFM, maybe even division.  I don’t want that certificate (and neither does N2KMA), so no score submission.

Usually only have to worry about ice in Nov or early Dec, then it gets cold enough to forget about freezing rain until maybe March.  January and February temps almost never get above freezing.  But last February there was a thaw that produced 1/2 inch of radial ice from freezing rain and the ensuing wind damaged some elements, mostly on the HF stuff so no big deal.  Still it was pretty scary since the ice lasted well over a week before the sun evaporated it off even in freezing temps.

But this was the strangest January WX ever. It iced up the week before with freezing rain then thawed and did it again earlier in the week and was barely thawed out by Friday.  Great, good to go!  Friday night saw temps in the 20s and 3” of snow but around 3AM it warmed up suddenly to just below freezing and a “wintery mix”.  That stuff really likes to stick to trees and especially cold metal towers, antennas and guys.

By 9AM it warmed to just above freezing, but the rain had stopped so the ice did not wash off. It never got above 33 degrees and by 10AM I could shake enough ice off the guys and booms to hopefully save the towers and antennas when the inevitable high winds came and the temps dropped again before I was finished.  Temps dropped so fast I barely made it in time to shake the last set of guys on the two towers before it refroze again.  By 11AM it was 20 deg again well on its way to -3 at night.  I took advantage of parking the main VHF antennas into the wind before the tower froze up again. Good thing since the winds peaked at an ice loaded antenna killing 45MPH.  Sundays high was 12 degrees so there it stays for the duration, next thaw unknown.

After missing the 222 UP distance due to other commitments and the Sept VHF contest due to the untimely death of my sister less than 48 hours before, I was really looking forward to some VHF radio contest time.  Much as I detest that NAQP SSB is the same weekend I was able to get the ant tuner to work on the HF wires despite the drop in resonance due to the thick ice and give my Club SMC some points in the Club Cup Challenge with PVRC, but even that was a struggle since the SWR kept varying as the winds blew.  I sit here Sunday afternoon with the VHF contest still going on, without even a radio on because I know I still can’t TX. 

73 de Bob