[TowerTalk] Waterproof enclosures at base of tower

[Tom McDermott]

> What do you guys think about the use of a military surplus ammo boxes? 
> The one I have is 5 1/2"wide x 11" long and 7" deep and thats a small 
> ammo box. I've seen more useful size boxes and there are plenty of 
> surplus places across the US. Very secure lids with waterproof seals and 
> plenty heavy gauge metal. Mounting them would not be hard. I just opened 
> mine and the lid comes completely off if I wanted to have full access to it.


It depends on the application, I built a box to hold matching network for a
80m/160m shunt-fed vertical. At 1500w, the voltage on the series matching capacitor
and the feedthrough insulator to the gamma wires can be very high. The
ceramic feedthrough insulators arced through to the metal box, and the capacitor
frame arced to the metal box. None of these problems with a non-conductive box.

Plastic weatherproof boxes sold at electrical supply distributors are not too
expensive, and should come with a rubber gasket. The one used had 8 large screws
to hold the cover on, and was roomy enough to fit a stepper motor, vacuum
variable cap, 4:1 transformer, relays, etc.

    -- Tom, N5EG


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