[TowerTalk] Wanted: pix of water damaged coax connection

[N1BUG]

On 05/22/2016 02:33 PM, john at kk9a.com wrote:
> The only time I had this happen was when I used Belden's garden hose 9913
> coax and a connector downstream got burnt.  I have never seen a water
> stained connector.


I'm not sure stained is the right word but I have seen this more 
than once... and wish I'd had the foresight to save at least one for 
future reference. They were male/female pairs that when taken apart 
had white/gray powder on the center pin and socket. My theory is 
that this was somehow caused by water eroding the solder, but I 
don't know that for a fact. I do know that exposed solder on 
antennas is eaten away in just a few years here. I also noted that 
the coax associated with the aforementioned connectors had blackened 
copper conductors extending many feet back from the connectors - a 
sure sign water had been in there. I have seen this "substance" at 
least once in the threads of a UHF connector pair also.

On at least one occasion I found massive amounts of a similar yet 
different powdery substance in a connection where I had kludged a 
PL259 onto aluminum jacket 1/2" CATV cable and then failed to keep 
water out. There was so much of this crap accumulated in there I 
could barely get the connector apart without breaking something. My 
guess here is some sort or electrolysis due to dissimilar metals, 
aided by water. It was ugly!

73,
Paul N1BUG