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Polishing Ant. and SWR grease

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Subject: Polishing Ant. and SWR grease
From: n1tht@juno.com (Thomas D Sharpe)
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 16:38:23 EST
Hi Guys

 I love this reflector. I have learned so much just by sitting here and
reading the replies others get. I feel as though I should contribute
where I can as I have a responsibility to not act in a selfish manner. 

 Having moved last year I had the opportunity to move my towers and
antennas. I put into practice some of the pointers that others have
suggested and I feel as though the fellows here may benifit as much as I
did if I pass them along.
 Prior to my putting the tribander back up at the new QTH I polished the
front 2 elements only. I did not polish the bottom of the elements as I
live in a compact area and did not want to attract much attention from
the neighbors. A fellow Ham suggested that I don't polish the rear
element as that is reflector and if it remained dirty it wouldn't pick up
as much signal from the rear and wouldn't  generate signal as much. What
a differance that made for me. I recieve most of my freinds at  6-8 db
more than when I was at the old house down on the lake in the hollow. I
attribute this to listening to fellow Hams like KE5FI  that had some
great suggestions for me. Now that I have moved up here onto the top of a
hill near a water tower {highest point in town} I was concerned abt wind
on my coax and the resistance that would make compared to my old place.
It was suggested to me that I use grease on the coax to cut down on the
friction on the coax thereby reducing the resistance ie: wind load.
I asked what type of grea e and their answer was...SWR grease. Looking
into the matter I stopped at the local Ham shop and he had some gray
colored stuff for $26 per 6 oz bottle. It looked just like the
"Never-seize" that I had at home for $3 a bottle so I decided to try the
stuff at home. IT WORKED SLICK. I found that by coating my NEW coax that
there was an increase in my signal on all of my antennas. The SWR on my
old Antennas was much lower and easier to tune with my new 1.5kw
tuner....{boy that old 100w tuner sure was dirty inside..all black
marks}. 
 If it weren't for the Old Timers that took me under their wing and
showed me some of the stuff that never made the books, I never would have
known abt the "Secrets" of this hobby.It is Guys like Chuck/KE5FI and
Doug/W2DA that have made a differance in the looks and performance of my
station.
Thanks Guys
73's 
Gud DXing
de:  "Number 1 Totally Helpless Tommy"     N1THT

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