Stormy weather over the weekend took down two major ham radio antenna towers in Finland and in Denmark. On December 6, Radio Arcala (OH8X) reported that its 330 foot tall tower near the village of Arkala that supported 160 meter and 80 meter Yagis literally fell victim to high winds that also took out power to some 200,000 homes in Finland.

“The mammoth structure collapsed peacefully, not hitting any of the other six towers, not hurting people or damaging buildings,” a report from Jarmo J. Jaakola, OH2BN, described. “As professional engineering efforts had up to now ensured the survival of this 5 year old structure, inspectors are busy trying to evaluate the cause of the failure. It is suspected that automation designed to enable the array to find its most comfortable position in high winds somehow locked up and caused the structure to corkscrew.”

In Denmark, the same storm bent over the top of the OZ5E tower supporting a 20 meter OptiBeam and 3 element 40 meter Yagi — “a total loss,” the Danish Contest Academy reports on its website.