[TowerTalk] Coax ground braid

[Jim W7RY]

Or the jacket has contaminated the braid by out-gassing. The coax was 
probably MUCH older that anyone though it was.

73
Jim W7RY


--------------------------------------------------
From: "Bob Ad5vj" <ad5vj at ad5vj.com>
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2012 3:54 PM
To: <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>; <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Coax ground braid

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