[RTTY] Rainwater and connectors

[Thom]

Actually my antenna system is not quite 6 months old and I seal my coax 
connectors very well.  I use Super 88 electrical tape in a couple of 
layers, then coax seal over that then a couple more layers of Super 88. 
That should be good enough.

Yep, I know about re-orientating the antenna to try and reduce the 
interaction of my antennas and the roof but I do not have that option.  
I live in a mobile home park.  There are other homes close by.  There 
are very few trees and I have none on my lot.  My lot is 45 feet wide 
and 100 feet long. My mobile home takes up 32% of that space and runs 
East to West.  I am not about to start string wires over the top of my 
neighbors homes so I am stuck with the orientation I currently have and 
the roof.  Some of my neighbors homes have metal roofs just like mine.

My antennas are also on the low side. The high point is only 30 feet, 
again because I only have 100 feet to work with.  My mast is basically 
in the middle of that 100 feet.

To me, this is what makes Amateur Radio so much fun.  Finding out what 
works and what doesn't given the limitations I have with space.  My next 
project is a vertical or two.  We shall see how that works.

I am also exploring the possibility of relocating my station to a remote 
site and running it all over the internet.

As for spraying water on the roof...it is 28 degrees outside right now. 
The hose is stored for the winter.

Anyway everything has dried out and all my antennas have that nice 1:1 
swr ratio.

Everybody have a great weekend.

73

Thom KI8W


On 12/2/2016 12:39, William Lisk wrote:
> 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
>
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