[TowerTalk] Sealing Coax Connections

[Steve Maki]

In any case, one must use a "courtesy" wrap under the nuclear stuff to 
avoid loud swearing in the future.

Scotch 33 or 88 works OK for that, but the best courtesy wrap is a layer 
of silicone tape.

-Steve K8LX

On 04/19/25 4:29 PM, Steve Jones wrote:
> Interesting...I use the exact opposite procedure.  I first wrap the
> connector with Scotch 88, with a little fold at the end for easy unwrapping.
> Then cover everything with the self-fusing Coax Seal.  If I need to get to
> the connector,  I scrape the sticky stuff away from the little fold, then
> unwrap everything off to reveal a shiny clean connector.
> 73,
> Steve
> N6SJ
>
>
>     
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TowerTalk<towertalk-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of Jim Brown
> Sent: Friday, April 18, 2025 10:56 PM
> To:towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Sealing Coax Connections
>
> 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
>
>
>
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