Eddy, I had wondered why no one had mentioned a simple tube of silicone from the hardware store and was about to but you took the words out of my mouth. I was starting to think there was some gotcha associated with it that I didn't know about, but I've been using it outside with no problems. Maybe it breaks down in sunlight?
73 Rob K5UJ On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 7:26 AM, Edward Swynar <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Guys, > > Contrary to "...tribal knowledge", I insist that clear silicone > sealant---G.E. brand, whatever---still can't be beat on applications that > are out-of-doors & in the open...! > > I smear it all over my PL-259 connectors---and then some---that I use to > hook-up my feeders to the bases / tuning networks of my extended inverted > "L" arrays for 160-meters here: in the open air, there are no noxious / > corrosive fumes to contend with... > > In the Spring, when it's time to roll-up the radials & store away the tuning > networks, I simply get an X-acto knife & make a slit into the silicone the > length of the connector, then peel the whole thing off in one piece. > > It's cheap, effective, and never allows water entry into the "works"---even > when buried for (literally) months at a time under a foot & more of snow! > > I concur, however, with the "dangerous" potential side-effects of > silicone...case in point: one Field Day, many moons ago, I used silicone as > an adhesive to anchor a small air-variable capacitor down securely inside a > Tupperware enclosure, used to tune a delta loop on 40. It was a dewey damp > Sunday morning when we opened-up the Tupperware lid to se why the tuning of > our antenna had gone awry...to our surprise, the rotor blades of the > capacitor were completely coated in rust! > > Our only conclusion was that the noxious, vinegar-like smell of the > silicone, in a sealed environment, had somehow "attacked" the steel > capacitor, & aged it by a quantum leap! > > Used outdoors & in the open, however, I've never had that problem... > > ~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ > ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Post: [email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] with the word unsubscribe in the message body. This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
