When I was in the service we used quite a bit of this:
http://raychem.te.com/CableProtection.asp
Pretty cool stuff. It had something in the jacket that showed when you were
getting it hot enough etc.
Lately I've used some from a local electrical supply house. It worked well,
had lots of glue inside etc.
What I found in my area is that when it gets cold the glue gets hard and
doesn't stay sealed to the cable. This resulted in water penetration.
For the high frequencies that I work with this was a major problem. Any
little bit of water at 2400mhz is a disaster. I've seen a LOT of sub 1ghz
connections with no weather proofing at all work just fine.
The heat shrink is great stuff where you can use it.
laters,
marlon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph or Ruth Patrick" <hdmc38@bellsouth.net>
To: "Grant Saviers" <grants2@pacbell.net>
Cc: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 6:40 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] heat shrink weathering
Good Morning Grant
I can't give you an exact figure as to the life of the heat shrink tubing.
If
you can find out who the manufacturer is they should be able to help you
out. I
have used heat shrink on connectors that were hard to seal properly. To
close to
something, not enough clearance etc. I have had some in use for 5 years now.
Recently I had to replace an insulator on my mobile set up. I cut off the
heat
shrink and the PL-259 was bright and shiny as when I sealed it. I can't give
you
a name because the piece I have left is not marked. I did use the type with
adhesive inside. Also look for a 3 to1 shrink ratio. If you don't have a
heat
gun I would suggest you purchase a cheap one unless you plan to use it a
lot. I
picked one up on E-bay for$20.00 + shipping. Yeah it was really cheap but it
worked fine and still does. Just go slow and don't get it to hot. I also use
a
silicone based paste named "STUFF" inside the connection. Had good luck with
that also. The adhesive type is hard to remove. Maybe some SteppIR owners
can
help with that. Good Luck let us know how you make out.
73 DE K4XZ Joe Patrick
God Made Man
Sam Colt Made Them Equal
________________________________
From: Grant Saviers <grants2@pacbell.net>
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Sent: Sun, September 11, 2011 7:59:10 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] heat shrink weathering
I'm building a new SteppIR beam and they have changed from tape wrapping
the fiberglass element joints to an adhesive lined heat shrink "CANUSA
CFTV".
This approach seems better than two layer's of Scotch 33 plus a layer
self amalgamating silicone tape which is what is in the instruction book.
My question is how long does the heat shrink/adhesive last in the
weather, sun, etc? Apparently CFTV has been used for some time in the
cellular business and a fellow towertalkian might have observed the
performance for 5 to 10 years.
I have plenty of silicone tape and plain old #33 so could wrap each heat
shrink piece if that is warranted.
73,
Grant KZ1W
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