I was getting pretty great reception from my outdoor FlightAware antenna (that’s only been up a few weeks) until the first rain and brief freeze. I had neglected to wrap the connector junction it with the recommended waterproofing tape, since I misplaced it during assembly.
The weather has since cleared up for several days, but the range drop appears permanent and consistent. I removed the antenna from the connector and it appeared clean and dry a couple days after the rain.
Any advice welcome on how to diagnose and rectify this. I’ve since found the tape so I’ll get it sealed up as soon as I get it working properly again.
I had a similar problem a while back. Once it was water in the preamp that was on the mast, but I could see that. Another time it was the cable. I ended up swapping cables before I figured that one out.
In my case, there was visible corrosion in the preamp so I replaced it. I couldn’t see anything in the cable end, but I swapped in another cable to test, and the problem went away, so I ended up replacing the whole cable without any further attempt at problem diagnosis. These were two separate instances months apart.
Did you make any other changes (updates for example)
My advice would be to redo all connections and check if they are lose.
I wouldn’t necessarily focus on water damage after such a short time.
