Yes, good point. Of course, I've used Mil-Spec and many other contact
cleaners for as long as I can remember.
But for me, it's an easy choice between a a self-healing "wetting"
design with a few inexpensive components and a low-voltage DC source, or
a rig that quits mid-contest and needs to be ripped open, or worse, a
precarious 140-foot tower climb in the middle of a dark misty night on a
Galápagos Islands mountaintop six-hundred miles from the safety of the
nearest continent, learning again about sealed relays and connectors,
slippery steps and terrain wind speedup (been there, done that).
If you can access them, spraying switch, connector and relay contacts
can sometimes make a temporary repair to surface corrosion, but it will
definitely be back. In my design experiences with a number of successful
contest stations (as well as my former company's products and my race
car), instead of Band-Aids I've preferred eliminating as many known
failure mechanisms as possible. Contact wetting current is one
well-established way, and I look for products from manufacturers like
ICOM that recognize this.
For a different problem, rusty nuts and bolts, stuck locks and knobs
(even with stainless or galvanized tower hardware), our local fire
department folks introduced me to CLP, which they carry everywhere.
While made for gun cleaning, it's amazing, much better in my experience
than any other lube like WD-40. See
https://www.lucasoil.com/product/extreme-duty-clp.
Dave, W6NL/HC8L
On 1/11/25 10:36 PM, wa9wsj via TowerTalk wrote:
Another place to try is your local guitar shop! That's where I get mine.
73
Tom WA9WSJ
Sent with Proton Mail secure email.
On Saturday, January 11th, 2025 at 8:55 PM, Gary Smith <wa6fgi@steeltrails.net>
wrote:
I would suggest you purchase some Deoxit-5 for cleaning and care of contacts.
I have used it for many years in various applications besides cleaning and
renewing contact surfaces with beyond expected results. Believe you can get it
from DX engineering.
Gary…wa6fgi
Sent from Gary’s iPad
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