I used 3/4 conduit to strengthen a aluminum pole I had up for a CB antenna, the aluminum pole was 2" at the bottom and 1/2 inch at the top of a 20' sectional pole. I used 3/4 inch metal conduit to lay in next to the aluminum and I have 2 sections of 10' with a five foot section as the splice to the two ten foot sections and it has withstood a 30 mph winds at twenty feet in the air with a 12' fiberglass CB antenna at the top of it. I expect winds to be much larger this summer during Spring and Fall; we usually get up into the 50+ mph rage or better. So I plan to put another section of the same material on the other side of this same pole assembly. This ought to increase my projections up to at least 60 mph winds; and I expect to do it one more time if the winds should be projected or forecasted to increase from there. My makeshift base mount (for the antenna mast) is a mount that is designed for temporarily use during Hamfests, and for flags in general, that you drive a wheel of your car onto, to keep the mast from falling over in the wind. 030 operator Gary, GB5ABL.

Before sending the radio out to pasture, you may wish to check the antenna, lead-in cable, and plug first. While antenna issues usually mainly affect AM reception first, there are instances that can affect FM and not AM. Three areas that the antennas fail at are the ground clamp at the base of the antenna that grounds the shield of the antenna lead-in cable to the body of the vehicle and acts as the ground-plane of the antenna. Another area is oxidation on the antenna plugin connector. Last is a break or short in the coax lead-in. You can unplug the antenna from the radio and use an ohm meter to measure from the center pin of the plug to the antenna mast itself - should be close to 0 Ohms. Then measure from the outer conductor of the plug to any chassis point inside the vehicle - should also be about 0 Ohms. Then measure form the center pin of the plug to the outer conductor - should be infinite resistance. However if there is any corrosion at either the antenna connection or plug end, it can create added capacitance that will attenuate the high frequency FM stations and not affect the low frequency AM stations. If all that checks out, then try removing the radio from the dash and, while still electrically connected and turned on, tapping on the radio with the handle of a screwdriver to check for intermittent connections or cold solder joints. From there, if is does intermittently work, you'd need to take the covers off and continue tapping around with an insulated tool to locate the area and repair it. Then of course if none of this works and as pointed out above, junk yards for $5 or as they like to be called now, Automotive Recycling Centers, for $20!

Oops. Quite right there. Here's the link. Got to be careful anymore. I got "flagged" in another forum for posting these questions since a member was convince that i was trying to sell these transmitters. Even after assurances to the contrary, and reposting my question free of any links to the brand or vendor, he remained unconvinced and kept complaining to the moderators. Wow. USB2.0 FM Audio transmitter Wireless adapter : eBay and pics of the inside of device http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/y...t/SDC14269.jpg http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/y...t/SDC14278.jpg http://images15.fotki.com/v588/photo...209/FM2-vi.gif http://images52.fotki.com/v1551/phot...209/FM1-vi.gif Since my post I decided to simplify the matter quite a bit by just using a set of rabbit ears, "tuned" to about 53inch total length (both "ears" laid vertically) via an online calculator for 1/2 dipole, and simply soldering the USB card directly to the antenna via 1/4 inch stubs of the flat twin lead emerging from the antenna's base. The little bit of twin lead used to reach the xmitter is negligible in the calcualtions (actually I did shave an approx amount of length from the measurement of the "ears". That was super easy. I rationalized, from the seat-of-the-pants, that thus eliminating any coax or distance between the xmitter and the antenna minimized the necessity for any further balancing via a balun. I secured this vertically in a first floor hall closet in the middle of the house.... basically its a rabbit ears version of this.. http://www.qsl.net/va3iul/Antenna/Wire%20Antennas%20for%20Ham%20Radio/16-Vertical%20Dipole%20Antenna.jpg ...and ran 12 ft of USB cable down to the laptop in my workshop. It works spectacularly! Crystal clear stereo fm out to about 150 ft of my house wherein it drops of quite suddenly. I thing the vertical 1/2 wave produces a nice clean toroid of coverage just where I need it without concern for overstepping myself Without a lot of adjustment I seem to have stumbled onto just what I wanted. The locator site was either out of date or not specific enough to my neighborhood (being based only on zip code). A couple of the freqs I chose according to that site had rather clear and strong stations already there. I drove around in my car in around an approx 1/2 mile perimeter of my home and located a channel, 106.4 that was dead quiet within 100mz in either direction. Worked out great.

I guess I didn't make this quite clear. Replacing the breaker by itself isn't likely to make a difference. That's not the best place to start. To fix the problem, you have to remove the means for lightning to induce a surge in the circuit. The info about the age and weird wiring adds a dimension to this. You need to find any dead-end runs and ensure that they are isolated or, if possible, removed. My admittedly feeble EE sense is tingling - I'm thinking that old knob and tube might be more susceptible to surges because of the space between the conductors, but I could be wrong about that. We have some real EEs here who should be able to address that issue. I would start with having the electrical system grounding checked. Also make sure that any tall metallic objects (antenna masts, etc) are properly grounded. Then I'd rip out or isolate unused wiring. I'd fit a TVSS. The best ones mount at the meter itself, but in many cases the only way to get a meter-installed TVSS is through the power company with a monthly charge. A panel mounted device will suffice instead. Once you've found and corrected the real problem, THEN you replace the breaker, and only as a precaution because it may have been compromised by repeated trips.