[CQ-Contest] Are beams needed for competitive contesting from the Caribbean?

[Charles Gallo]

<snip> Â If you plan on using exterior antena switching, also
> consider enclosing the unit in some sort of plastic container.
> Good luck!
> 73OtisNp4G
<snip>

Which leads me back to a question I've thought about way more than once. 
why don't ham Mfgs "pot" their outdoor products more often?  Today, you
can get thermally conductive potting compounds, so even things like chokes
could be potted.  If an antenna switch was built with sealed relays, or
they were put in interior boxes, you could basically build an antenna
switch that would never fill with water etc

In the old days, the cheap potting was beeswax, and in fact, OLD
SuperStationMaster VHF antennas were beeswax potted.  Of course then
someone decided beeswax fumes were a carcinogen, so they banned that

I've seen so many water damaged low power items (RX switch boxes etc) that
I shake my head.  I guess my Mil-spec background is showing (and the fact
that I was in charge of my companies environmental test lab).  Salt spray?
 Vibration?  Shock?  Fungus?  High temp/humidity?  NO problem.  Get your
ME to choose the right potting