E.V. Bondar, M.A. Petrov

Common faults that occur in the antenna-feeder track and antenna arrays in the operational process of VHF antenna-feeder devices, their causes and ways of its elimination are considered in the article. Components of antenna-feeder devices are often used in the little-known mountain areas in fairly harsh conditions: strong temperature fluctuations, perceptible humidity fluctuations, solar radiation, hurricane, glaze, precipitation, etc. The authors have tried to review some typical faults that occur in the antenna-feeder track in the operational process of antenna-feeder device, their causes and possible solutions, based on experience, available at the Branch NIIR-SONIIR. The first common problem, considered in this article applies to any in-cut connections in the antenna-feeder track (feeder-feeder, feeder-radiator, feeder- power splitter, feeder-transformer). It lies in the penetration of moisture into the connector. The second typical fault of antenna-feeder components located outdoors is the damage of radiators and reflectors over wind loads, the value of which is much more than those on which the components of antenna-feeder devices are calculated. Another typical fault of antenna-feeder device components located outdoors, is damage by snow and glaze falling from the metal structures located above. It should be also noted the faults caused by human error and faults caused by latent defects in construction and equipment. In general, it should be noted that for effective long-term functioning of the antenna-feeder devices can not exclude the stage of design, which is a very difficult engineering task in the view of mechanics and electrodynamics. Only professional design of antenna-feeder devices allow at the performance of installation significantly reduces costs and later avoids the occurrence of the above-listed faults, which result in the need of various product updates, which finally leads to its significant cost increase.