When I restored my TA-36 this last summer, I went a bit overboard with
the polishing, but my antenna had some *serious* "barn rash" from
long-term storage. I'd received it with the boom and elements all
assembled and some cloudy history, with some concerns that there may
have been some trap issues, and no clue where those issues may have
been. I began, after disassembling what I could, by removing the
largest part of the oxidation with some fairly coarse grit emery paper,
then following it up with the Scotch-Brite pads (the green plastic
ones). That left me with a nice, clean aluminum finish. I then
disassembled all of the traps and cleaned not only the dead things out,
but the coils and their connection points, and the trap housings and the
surfaces where they connected to the coils. I finished up with
reassembling the antenna using a very thin coat of aluminum-impregnated
anti-seize at every joint and all new stainless hardware at every
conductive joint. I built a new balun and it's performing like a brand
new antenna. Sure, it was a load of work, but well worth every moment.
Don't know if that little bit of into will help any, but I hope it
does. Email if you want any more details.
73,
Mike, WA0ZOG
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