Hurricane Sandy (Courtesy NOAA)

As many probably know, the northeast was hit by Hurricane Sandy, a huge storm this past week. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of the people who were effected or hurt by this tragic weather event. The pictures of the devastation in New York City and New Jersey, USA are unbelievable and saddening.

Several of our friends have asked how we and our station fared during this major weather event. We sustained only minor impacts due to some 50+ mph wind gusts – many branches down and the top SteppIR DB36 Yagi on our tower turned on the mast. We also experienced an early life failure in our K0XG Ring on Saturday prior to the storm. A power rectifier failed and left us unable to turn the ring. Fortunately, the ring failure left the lower of our two SteppIR DB36 Yagis pointed in a safe direction relative to the highest winds during Hurricane Sandy. We were without power for several hours on Monday evening but our generator covered for that nicely. The turned antenna and the failed rectifier were easily corrected after the storm passed and we are back to normal here. All in all, the new Antenna System came through the storm quite well. Thanks to everyone for their concerns for us.

– Fred (AB1OC) and Anita (AB1QB)