[TowerTalk] Sealing Coax Connections

[Jim Brown]

On 4/18/2025 3:12 PM, Brian Beezley wrote:
> Has anyone tried this method?:
> 
> https://tinyurl.com/mr3n2htx

Neighbor W6GJB and I, who have worked together on antennas for 10-15 
years, have tried a lot of methods. I've used heat shrink selectively to 
solve specific problems, but not to cover connections completely.

One of the issues with any connection is that we often need to open them 
up to change something, or to troubleshoot an issue. The method we 
settled on some years ago is to first wrap the connection with a 
self-fusing silicone product like Rescue Tape, then cover it with an 
overlapped wrap of Scotch 88 to protect it both physically and from UV. 
If we need to open up the connection, we can simply unwrap the 88, then 
slice the silicone with a knife or razor blade.

This method has worked quite well for us. We do a lot of portable 
operation in Glen's contesting trailer

k9yc.com/7QP.pdf

and both of us live in the Santa Cruz Mountains, with a lot of antennas 
rigged high in redwoods that experience storm damage, every winter. And 
also receiving antennas -- I have two 550 ft long reversible Beverages 
and a pair of phased VE3DO loops. We've figured out rigging pretty well 
-- after losing a couple of 120 ft high dipoles in 2006-7, the only ones 
I've lost since were three that were supported on one end by a 200 ft 
Douglas Fir whose root ball was pulled out of the ground! The other end 
of all three dipoles were intact. We rig with weights on pulleys, and 
rigging is pretty robust.

73, Jim K9YC