[TowerTalk] Long Term Connector Reliability

[Grant Saviers]

Posted b4. The Times connector seal kit (tape-mastic-tape) has all the 
stuff needed for more than a half dozen PL's.  From a commercial tower 
guy I learned to spray the top layer of 33 or 88 with exterior clear 
acrylic spray to help seal the tape edges and UV protection.

Gran tKZ1W

On 7/23/2022 11:46, NN4TT Dave Clausen wrote:
> After almost 40 years of doing connectors both in amateur and commercial
> service, the absolute go to for me has been a combination of Scotch 17 or
> 33 electrical tape and the moldable mastic sealer. One layer of tape
> wrapped from the bottom to the top if vertical so the seams overlap in a
> manner so the water runs over the seam and not into it, then a layer of
> mastic across that making sure to incorporate over the tape onto the coax
> where you started wrapping on either side Get that firm and sealed very
> well and then another layer of tape from the bottom up over that wrapping
> tightly. That will compress the mastic into the seams of the tape on the
> bottom. I've only seen a couple of times water has intruded into that in
> hundreds of connectors that I've done of all types. The other benefit, is
> you can get into it fairly easily if you need to take it apart with a razor
> knife since the mastic is not worked into the joints of the connector,
> that's what the first layer of tape is for. If you want extra added
> protection, go with ScotchKote. Just brush that on to the outside of the
> last layer of electrical tape. I don't see ScotchKote used much anymore but
> almost every commercial installation that goes up these days is using the
> combination I described above. There was a time where they were using cold
> shrink in commercial, especially in the cellular industry but I haven't
> seen that in a while now but I don't work around cellular anymore. All the
> two-way lately is doing the tape -mastic - tape routine.
> 
> DX Engineering is selling a prepackaged version of this, Vapor Wrap and
> Scotch 33 in one and Scotch 88 in another. Pricey but extremely effective
> when you install it correctly.
> 
> 73
> Dave
> NN4TT
> 
> Sent from my not-so-new OnePlus 6T on T-Mobile.
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