[TowerTalk] PL-259 Electrical Joint Compound

[john at kk9a.com]

I suspect that your connectors had some water ingress, I have never noticed
any hint of corrosions on my sealed outdoor PL-259/SO-259 connectors.  They
are shinny and bright except for the exteriors which has black tape residue.
I do not use any compound on RF connectors except for greasing the O-rings
on CommScopre/Andrew ones.

15 years is probably not bad for the rubber jacket of LMR400-UF.  I had a
bad experience with Belden 8267 RG-213.  Belden used to be tough as nails
and I used it for decades but the version made during the last 10-15 years
turns white and brittle pretty quickly.  I replaces all of my Yagi coax
leaders to DX Engineering RG-213 which so far seems to be holding up well.

John KK9A


Paul Christensen w9ac wrote:

After 15 years, a pair of PL-259 connectors have seized on mating SO-239
jacks used on an outdoor RF choke. Is there anything more suitable than
Penatrox-A which is Au/Cu rated?  Ideally, I'd like to apply a synthetic +
conductive grease on the mating SO-239 threads.

 

Unrelated, but while investigating the coax connectors, the LMR400-Ultraflex
cable I installed about 15 years ago has started to decompose.  At the time
of installation, I knew the Ultraflex version has a shorter life span but
wasn't expecting such severe decomposition.  The jacket is crumbling due to
its rubber composition.  This past weekend, I replaced it with gelled
LMR400-DB for direct burial, but it's installed above ground.  Like the
original LMR400, the DB version has a rugged polyethylene (PE) jacket.  

 

Paul, W9AC