[TowerTalk] Connectors, Installation, Bury-Flex, etc.,

[Jim Thomson]

Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2018 22:16:45 -0400
From: Hans Hammarquist <hanslg at aol.com>
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Fwd:  Connectors, Installation, Bury-Flex, etc.,
DAVIS RF

<John,

<I don't understand the "draining" technique just by looking at the sketch of the antenna but know from experience that water sealing sometimes result in accumulation of water there it doesn't belong. That's what drain holes are for.

<A tips though, I usually flood my connectors with VASELINE just to make sure there is no room for water. I've seen the phone companies do that to prevent corrosion on their connectors and also worked with outdoors cables that have VASELINE inside. Very, very sticky but seems to do the job. A <thin layer of it doesn't seem to cause connection problems as you might think. I don't know if the connecting part is pressing through it or if a thin, thin layer is conduction. I have heard both theories.

<Hans – N2JFS

##  Vaseline is a big no-no.   Its a petroleum product.   It also liquefies at  just 100 deg F.   None of  the  telcos ever used it, and still dont.   I worked for the Telco for  34   years.  If I ever caught anybody slopping vaseline on anything, they woulda got a boot up their rear end. 
Flooding a coax connector is not recommended.  What does work is to use a  TINY  layer of dielectric  grease, like dow corning  DC-4  or  DC-5  or  most other versions of dielectric grease  on the center pin, and  also the threads.   You can also apply a thin layer of dielectric grease
to the red silicone rubber used to water proof Type N connectors.....and   ditto with a  7-16 Din connector.   You can also use a thin layer of dielectric grease on the rubber gaskets used on NEMA  type  4 water proof boxes. 

Jim  VE7RF