[TowerTalk] Coax ground braid

[Bob Ad5vj]

So it is water damage. 

When I make up my coaxes, I always solder all the holes at the pl-259 and seal it with coax selfsealing tape and adhesive lined doublewalled heatshrink. So no water got in at the connectors I dont think.

This coax was given to me on a roll 500' long to make 2 80 meter bazookas. He said the roll was found some years before and kept in a shed and I could keep the rest. So the water damage must have been there all along.

Free is not always free.

I will remake the station grounds, even though I spent all afternoon taking the station apart and cutting out the braids to make sure it was right.

I was always told to use flat braid for station grounds in years past for RF purposes and if you didnt have any, make it from coax braid.

Guess W3LPL has found out different.


tnx Bob AD5VJ


Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G

Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com> wrote:

On 4/16/2012 11:08 AM, Bob Ad5vj wrote:
> In doing so, after removing the outer jacket I see places where the copper is black in some areas. Some places as much as a foot long.
>
> 1. Will this hurt the conductivity as a ground braid assuning I clean it up where I make contact from the equipment?

YES -- that's corrosion, and it can greatly reduce the conductivity of 
the braid.

>
> 2. Has anyone seen this before?

Sure. it means your coax has gotten wet.

>
> 3. Does this mean I need to changeout all my 3yr old coax outside which came off the same roll at the same time?

If it all looks like that, YES.  I'd do some more inspection first.  
Water gets into coax either at connectors, or at tiny breaks in the 
outer jacket, look for damage and for poor waterproofing.

And I would be a lot more careful with what  I bought to replace it, and 
I'd also be VERY careful about proper installation of connectors, and of 
waterproofing all the connections.
73, Jim K9YC
_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk