[TowerTalk] Check that tape !

[Mike Smith VE9AA]

Dave, 

 

Thanks for posting.

 

WOW - that could be a picture of my connector.  The only thing difference
here, was that I also had a little black char down inside the hardline too.

I make my own "connector" (if you want to call it that) from hollowing out
the hardline, splitting the al. jacket slightly with a hacksaw, push in the
outside ring screwy shield shell piece (I don't know the proper name of the
tubular part that has a knurled surface that you grab with your fingers and
it rotates as you screw it onto a mating connector) down into the hollow of
the hardline. (is it "shell"?)

 

Then, I take a small SS hose clamp and tighten it down onto the hardline
jacket, holding the shell(?) of the PL-259 tightly into place.

 

Then I screw in a barrel connector.

 

Now I essentially have a pc of hardline with a female UHF connector on the
end of it.

 

I think in 20 or whatever years of using hardline, this is the first one
I've fried.  Very curious.  Maybe it was slightly damp when I put it
together.

 

I also read rumours last year from a Belgian or German guy who was wondering
about DC always being on a coax line and his corrosion that ensued.  This
intrigues me as up until today I have had that RCS-4 coax switch on pretty
much 24/7-365 for years and years, only turning it off if I am on vacation.
A little voice inside my electronics head has to wonder if a small DC
current on that coax for many years has contributed to my 'current' mess.
(no pun intended)

 

Anyways - I am glad I am not alone.

 

Love that call by the way !

 

Mike VE9AA...also VO1TTT & VE1TTT at times.

p.s.-got my 160m antenna back on line.  With all the coax swapping I've been
doing the past week or so, and losing a couple labels I confused my 160m
array with my 15m array.

 

>From K1TTT

I had one just like that but on my 20m stack.  It had been arcing
intermittently when the temperature went above freezing, then would stop
arcing after a while until Friday before a rtty contest a couple weeks ago
when it failed open.  Fortunately the tdr function in my RigExpert got it
within a couple feet so it could only be the connector or jumper from the
hardline to the lightning arrester.  Disconnect the jumper from the
lightning arrester and it was just 10' away, the length of the jumper, so
pull apart the hardline connector and had the same black mess... see here:
http://wiki.k1ttt.net/2017%20Maintenance%20and%20Upgrade%20Blog.ashx?NoRedir
ect=1#hardlineburnt
 
Like yours mine still had good looking tape and plenty of duct seal and even
some old still sticky coax seal on it... but this was one of my first home
made connectors so maybe some moisture was lurking inside for a long time.
or some could have gotten in when I installed the new jumpers to the
lightning arresters last year.
 
David Robbins K1TTT

 

Mike, Coreen & Corey

Keswick Ridge, NB