For PL-259 or Type-N to female connections outside my standard practice is either double-wall marine grade heat shrink, or Scotch-130 self-annealing tape (probably the same stuff as the 3M 2155) and the marine grade heat shrink.
We had a line of storms headed this way after I read your post, and I decided to lower/tilt the tower over, and I wrapped the screw ends of the balun with Scotch 130 and Super 88. Not sure what got into me when I put the antenna up; I guess I figured SS hardware shouldn't be a problem in the elements, but yeah, better safe than sorry. - pjd -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Walter Underwood Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2020 1:10 PM To: Elecraft Reflector <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] FIXED--was NOT the feedline I use the weatherproofing described here. I think this practice has a long history in telephone wiring. It is a detailed walk-through of what you described. https://static.dxengineering.com/pdf/WeatherProofingCoax-TechTip.pdf <https://static.dxengineering.com/pdf/WeatherProofingCoax-TechTip.pdf> wunder K6WRU Walter Underwood CM87wj http://observer.wunderwood.org/ (my blog) > On Jun 3, 2020, at 9:58 AM, Clay Autery <[email protected]> wrote: > > I've got to get to class, but there are a NUMBER of different methods and procedures that are used. > > Self-fusing tape properly applied covered by top-quality electrical tape to protect the self-fusing tape from UV... > There are specific points on installation that you want to observe. > > Someone will chime in with deatil or a reference to a procedure... If not, I will do it later... Class in 3 minutes. > > 73, > > ______________________ > Clay Autery, KY5G > (318) 518-1389 > > On 06/03/20 10:35, Peter Dougherty wrote: >> No, and I wasn't sure how to accomplish this. It's stainless >> hardware, but I'm guessing I should probably wrap the feedpoint up in >> self-annealing tape and Scotch 88 just to be safe. >> >> - pjd >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] >> <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Dave Cole >> Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2020 7:27 AM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] FIXED--was NOT the feedline >> >> Hi, >> >> Is the open end of that feedline where it connects to the antenna >> weatherproofed? >> >> 73, and thanks, >> Dave (NK7Z) >> https://www.nk7z.net >> ARRL Volunteer Examiner >> ARRL Technical Specialist >> ARRL Asst. Director, NW Division, Technical Resources >> >> On 6/2/20 8:15 PM, Peter Dougherty wrote: >>> HI all, >>> >>> A postscript to the problem. First off, a huge thank you to the many >> replies received. I was fortunate that the problem was not in the >> KPA-1500 as I'd originally feared. >>> Much troubleshooting within the past few days. Originally the amp >>> was >> "iffy" on the old M-squared 6m5, and problematic (faulting) during >> damp or wet weather. This prompted the replacement of both the antenna and feedline. >>> The hard faults were still occurring, until it was suggested the >>> Ten-Tec >> 238 tuner that I was using exclusively for the built-in antenna >> switch was now the issue. I took this out of line today, and lowered >> the tower to fine-tune the LFA's feed point and now everything is >> humming along just nicely. The KPA-1500 is happy at 1.5 kW and >> showing an SWR of 1.2 in dry conditions. I will keep my fingers >> crossed that the wet weather expected in the next day or so won't bother it all that much. >>> The final step was to move the 6m feedline from the secondary inlet >>> box to >> the main antenna switch on the big tower. The downside here is I now >> have an additional 70 feet of BuryFlex in the line, so I'm guessing a >> total of about >> 1.5 to 1.7dB of feedline loss. This is something I would like to >> address in the future with an eye to dropping it below 1dB. >>> Screencaps: >>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/1y4vyd17pbgq8ty/6m%20via%20the%20antenna%2 >>> 0s >>> witch.png?dl=0 >>> >>> And >>> >>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/5x8n0bum4nwcxqp/6m%20LFA%20-%20SWR%20after >>> %2 >>> 0tuning.png?dl=0 >>> >>> And for the balun discussion, this is what's in place, before the >>> double-walled heat-shrink was applied: >>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/18pgthl67rtq3bl/2020-05-31%2017.51.08.jpg? >>> dl >>> =0 >>> >>> - pjd >>> >>> ______________________________________________________________ >>> Elecraft mailing list >>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >>> Post: mailto:[email protected] >>> >>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this >>> email >>> list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to >>> [email protected] >>> >> ______________________________________________________________ >> Elecraft mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:[email protected] >> >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this >> email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to >> [email protected] >> >> ______________________________________________________________ >> Elecraft mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:[email protected] >> >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this >> email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to >> [email protected] > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email > list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to > [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
