[TowerTalk] coax connectors & penetrox et. al.

[Mike Lamb]

Bill:

I was going to answer this privately, but I thought I had better share this
with the entire reflector.

I have used penetrox in the past to help seal barrel connectors and have had
them arc over during a contest.  Apparently the penetrox migrated from the
outer shield to the center conductor with time and heat.  I definitely would
NOT recommend that you use penetrox for this purpose.

I now use silicone grease and it works great for keeping the metal nice and
shiney after years of service.  The silicone grease is a good dielectric
(insulator), but you have to examine what it is doing on a microscopic level to
understand why it works.  When you have two metals clamped together with
silicone grease between the metals, you have mountain peaks (on a microscopic
level) squeezing the grease into the valleys.  The grease keeps out any
electrolyte (H2O) that is necessary for electrolytic (corrosion) action to form
even though you might have dissimilar metals and an electical (RF) current
passing between.  I have used silicone grease exclusively now for a few years
now and absolutely no problems noted.

73/Mike, N7ML

WBH3@daimlerchrysler.com wrote:

> After all the talk about using products such as penetrox, no-alox and other
> oxidation preventers/conduction improvers, I am wondering if it would be a
> good idea to put some on my pl-259's, both the center conductor and the
> screw-
> on barrel.  Of course, it you are using a layer of scotch 88 and then a
> layer of coax-seal and then another layer of tape over the coax and the
> connector, do you really need to worry about oxidation?
>
> Bill Haselmire  WX8S
> wbh3@daimlerchrysler
>
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