Topband: Using GE silicone as antenna sealant.

[Eddy Swynar]

On 2013-03-16, at 12:39 PM, wa3mej at comcast.net wrote:

> 
> 
> Gents.. be very sure that if you pick GE silicone sealant.. (RTV or whatever you call it) DO NOT use the kind that has acetic acid in it.. Back in the early days of NASA rocket launches off Wallops Island NASA lost a rocket they launched.  It failed because they had used RTV that had acetic acid and it had corroded the connections.. litterally. 
> 
> A friend of mine W3AUN was one of the people responsible for this launch.. 
> 
> 


Be sure to pick SILICONE II sealant (with emphasis on the "II"), no matter the brand...!

It's true: the "regular" stuff exudes that vinegary-smelling stuff as it cures that is VERY corrosive.

Back some 30+ years ago we used the "bad" stuff to secure a variable capacitor inside of a weather-proof box as part of the delta match tuning network for a 40-meter multi-element loop on Field Day---when we opened the box the next morning to see why our tuning had changed, all of the components in the cap that could rust did, in fact, do just that, on account of the locked-in vapours!

So beware what you buy...!

~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ