[TowerTalk] weatherproofing connectors visited.

[Roger (K8RI) on TT]

Reliable, cheap, readily available, and works for properly installed UHF 
connectors.  I use Copper split nuts to attach antennas, feed lines, 
chokes, and end insulators. Coat them with Vaseline and they will stay 
pristine under all the dirt that collects. We are only a few miles from 
farming country so the dust really builds up on grease.  When I lived on 
the farm the build up was extreme.   Sometimes the old is still the best 
way.

OTOH the flooded, industrial heat shrink adds a great deal of strength.  
It's also likely the most difficult to remove.  OTOH if you lose the end 
of the tape it can be a royal PITA to remove. I replaced a splice in the 
coax from the AV640 to the new run of BuryFlex(TM) (which we put in last 
spring), today. I'd been trying to get around to do that all summer.  
I'm very good at procrastinating and the Arthritis has improved that 
ability!

With only one hand working well, I had to enlist the aid of my wife 
(N8JBW) to make the change. We don't really work well together on 
mechanical things.
The 20/5.6 mm MMM flooded heat shrink tubing wall is quite thick when 
shrunk to RG-8 size cables. It's also very tough!  It takes a lot of 
repeated little short cuts to split it down to the connectors and coax 
jacket while taking care not to cut into the coax jacket. That requires 
a sharp pointed box cutter blade.

   We taped the splice to be removed to the mast on which the vertical 
is mounted. Then once split we used a pair of regular pliers to break 
that MMM loose from the connectors and coax. It was a whole lot easier 
and faster with both hands working and just me. :-(The end of the 
BuryFlex had a UHF (PL259) crimp connector already installed that had 
been taped to keep the weather out, which is what reminded me of losing 
the tape end. It probably would have been easier had I heated the old 
heat shrink first even though it was near 80F outside.  Near 80 on the 
8th of October in Michigan! When I first became a ham in 61 we would 
have been having freezing temps at night with 8 to 10 inches of snow 
only a week to 10 days away.  We haven't even had a frost warning yet 
this fall.

73,

Roger (K8RI)

On 10/8/2017 Sunday 12:51 PM, Tom Osborne wrote:
> One thing that has always worked for me is Vaseline.  A friend who worked
> for the telephone company said they used it to cover exposed connections.
>
> I tried some on some antennas and found that after a couple of years, I
> just wiped it off with a rag and the connections underneath were as clean
> as the day I put the antenna up.  A lot easier to clean than glue and
> tape.
>
> I had one beam with a PL-259 connection and it was also nice and clean when
> I wiped it off.  73
> Tom W7WHY
>
>
> On Sat, Oct 7, 2017 at 11:39 PM, Roger (K8RI) on TT <
> K8RI-on-TowerTalk at tm.net> wrote:
>
>> One of the favorites (although I don't know by what percent) was wrapping
>> the first layer with the sticky side out. It does leave the connectors nice
>> and clean. OTOH there was a complaint about the hot melt glue from flooded
>> heat shrink not adhering.  IOW, to diametrically opposed approaches.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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


-- 

73

Roger (K8RI)


---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus