[TowerTalk] Silicone on coax connector's ?

[Steve Maki]

Jim Thomson wrote:

> Ok...  Andrew  heliax co sez to use silicone on coax connectors... to
> eliminate ... 'microscopic arcing'.


I've never seen anything from Andrew suggesting this - got a link?

Some Andrew connectors come with a tiny little tube of silicone grease,
but it's for lubing the outer o-ring to make the connector slide on
easier. Maybe that's where the cornfusion started...

I can tell you that in the commercial antenna world (cellular, etc.)
it's never ever applied to the center pin area of an already installed
connector before mating with the receptacle. I doubt it would hurt - in
fact there is a Teflon based product called Stuf (or Stuff?) that is
meant to be used that way, but not to prevent "micro-arcs". It's to keep
water out by eliminating voids.

IMO, it's better to simply weatherproof the outside of the connector.

73,

-Steve K8LX