#SteppIR down

It was the last straw.  Today, we had a "normal" Nor'easter storm, with NE winds gusting to ~25 mph, they said.  The antennas at AA6E had largely sailed through two hurricane / tropical storms and a few other major wind events.  But this "mild" one pushed us over the edge.  One of the reflector tubes popped off.  Fortunately, my policy of routinely retracting the SteppIR elements has paid off.  You can see a bit of the tape sticking out, but it looks OK from my vantage point at least.

This is where the tube fell, apparently without much damage in the front patio.  (The tree branch is from an earlier wind storm.)

Here is where things separated.  It looks like the rubber boot has separated, but the tube itself is probably OK.  The storm is still on, so I'm going to wait to do a more careful check.

The SteppIR is one of the original 3-element type.  It went up in 2004 IIRC, and has been trouble-free until now.  I'm not complaining.  We will probably have to bring it all down and replace the silicone rubber bits.