[time-nuts] Thunderbolt Pattern Failures

[stan katz]

Hi,

I've had a Trimble Thunderbolt for over three years, and it has functioned flawlessly, even in my high foilage area. During the recent snows, and coldsnap here in the Northeast (New York), my Thunderbolt has dropped signal from all satellites. The antenna is the mushroom one that came with the Chinese kits at that time. Is there a pattern failure for these antennas in sustained temperatures in single digits? One day this week, outdoor temp got over freezing, but all AMUs were still zero. I've searched this list via Gmane, but can't find any discussion on Thunderbolt pattern failures involving loss of rf signals, or antenna reliability. The antenna is well above the snow on the roof, although, I don't dare go up there to check it out until the snow melts. Tboltmon shows no open, and no short for the antenna connection status. Any prognosis on my getting signal back with the first good thaw? Any suggestion on a replacement antenna I can purchase if the
antenna is fried? Could an antenna failure cause the rf frontend of the Thunderbolt to also fail?

Thanks,
Stan