[SEDXC] Conductive grease for Yagi elements

[Tom W8JI]

> Today Bill, KJ4EX, and I managed to bring my HF and 6M Yagis down from the 
> small tower. Both need to be cleaned up and tightened up. It was noted by 
> Bill that some of the "gunk" that we originally used on the HF Yagi might 
> be causing a problem...namely one involving conductivity (it's a long 
> story).
>
> Therefore, does anyone have the name of a conductive element "grease" that 
> we can use on the HF antenna prior to going back up in the air this coming 
> Monday?? I have used Butternut's "Butter-Its-Not" in the past but don't 
> have any on hand. Where is a good place to procure same? HRO?
> Rich Arland

Rich,

You can buy Noalox at Home Depot and Lowe's. Noalox is supposedly formulated 
for aluminum.

There is also Penetrox A and Penetrox A13 for aluminum. Penetrox E is for 
copper.

Penetrox and Noalox  is **not** actually conductive. There are conductive 
particles in Noalox and Penetrox, but they don't really serve to make 
connections unless you pretty much displace all of the grease out of the 
connection. Then, at the points where the grease is virtually gone, the 
suspended particles are supposed to be able to "poke through" very thin 
oxides.  The aluminum types all have some "zinc dust" in suspension (the 
copper type has copper), but from what I measured the suspended metal dust 
and grease doesn't seem to do much other than inhibit corrosion. The grease 
has to be squeezed out of the way to get a good connection, and any oxide 
has to be cleaned. I always got about the same results with regular pure 
silicon greases or pastes.   :)

IMO, those formulas are mostly just good corrosion inhibitors. I always use 
them, but I also keep in mind the grease is not conductive and will not 
actually "break through" any oxide. The grease will not conduct where it 
fills in gaps, and it will actually insulate if the connection is not tight 
enough to squeeze out the grease. It only "conducts" where the bare metal 
actually touches bare metal, so be sure you clean the connections and 
tighten them!

73 Tom