[RTTY] Rainwater and connectors

[William Lisk]

In the place where I worked, we had a radio system that failed after 
about a year of successful operation.  It turned out that the outdoor 
coaxial connectors provided by the system vendor were not rain-tight.  
Over a period of time, water got into them and effectively shorted the 
inner to the outer conductor.  I discovered this when basically tearing 
everything apart to find the problem.  We dried everything out, 
reconnected, and taped them.  Because there was no way to replace them 
with more suitable connectors, we then improvised a rain shield with a 
thick plastic bag and covered the taped connectors with that.  The 
coaxial connections and cables were oriented in such a way that the 
cable opening in the plastic bag faced down, which would not allow any 
rain water in and formed a natural drain.  The repair was successful, 
but we had to keep an eye on the bag to make sure that it had not 
cracked due to the effects of sunlight and weathering.

73,

Bill/KC2EMH