In a message dated 9/23/01 2:20:03 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
blueis@sprintmail.com writes:
<<
Now hear me out BEFORE you laugh... and THEN tell me why this isn't a good
idea!
Ever since the '60s I have used Vaseline on all outdoor antennas. This
obviously includes all nuts and bolts, but also splice connections,
connectors, etc. If we ASSUME (and ensure!) that we have good mechanical
AND electrical connections, we can apply a liberal amount to Vaseline. It
fills in seams/pores, prevents air AND water from reaching components
(prevents oxidation), is cheap, NEVER solidifies, and is relatively easy to
clean up. A drawback: it collects dirt! Dust and dirt will 'stick' to the
surface of the Vaseline. However, if good M&E connections were made PRIOR
to applying the Vaseline, this is not a problem as this contamination
resides on the surface.
I do not know if this material will present a problem under high power. I
have used up to 200,000 mW without a problem. I have not noticed any
'migration' of the Vaseline. That is, I have not seen the Vaseline migrate
into a good M&E connection and make it a bad connection.
Aside from the *obvious* uses, has anyone else used it for antennas?? I
have taken a TA-33Jr, dipoles and coax in after being outdoors for years...
no oxidation visible after clean-up, no water/moisture in coax, nuts and
bolts operate as new...
Allright, NOW go ahead and tell me why Vaseline is the worst thing to use!!
Gary B
k3gb
>>
Gary: Whatever works is OK. Back in 1947 I used Vaseline to grease the
bearings in my PP motor. The oil should be drained out of them as it will
get by the bottom oil seal and get into the motor as the years go by. It
wasn't designed to be mounted vertical. The seals weren't designed to last
beyond WWII. I have the same ones in each PP motor as yet. Water got in and
several bearing rusted. I use Ams Grease on the gears now and have a way to
keep the water out. It's the slickest low temperature grease I've ever found
and I even used it to lubricate rifle cases for resizing. It's even slicker
than STP and resists water almost s good as Silicone grease. I added a
torque wrench to the resizing press arm to measure the relative drags on
resizing cases using 15 different lubes.
Now I never ever found anything better than Silicone grease to stop corrosion
between SS hardware like clamps, bolts and aluminum when properly applied- -2
very very dissimilar metals. Vaseline can be hosed off. Silicone grease
sticks so well that any surface even with the silicone grease wiped off will
not hold paint. K7gco
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