There's a variety of "hard" containers available too with tiny holes in them to allow air to pass but not the crystals. I found one in a bottle of aspirin recently about the size of the eraser off of a pencil! The pharmaceutical companies have given up trying to get people to store their drugs outside of the bathroom where the humidity destroys the efficacy of most drugs and have started trying to protect them with desiccants instead!
I guess the question is whether protection is really needed. I've worked on a lot of marine radios aboard ships and can't recall finding any corrosion except for those things exposed directly to salt water spray. Of course, water vapor does *not* carry salt. It can condense in gear and cause other problems, but they aren't limited to coastal areas. The equipment has to be exposed to actual airborne droplets of salt water to get salt corrosion. I was a broadcast transmitter engineer at an FM station that had a dry-air filled feed line like you describe, only it was coaxial line made using a copper tube within a larger copper pipe. One of the things I kept a close eye on was the SWR on the line. If moisture started to intrude for any reason, it would start a relentless climb toward the point at which the transmitter would shut down automatically. Obviously, my job was to make sure it stayed on the air <G>. Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- HelloRon, An "vintage" method of keeping waveguide and Heliax feedlines both pressurized and dry ... used by Andrew ... was a box that had an aquarium pump that fed it's output through a can of silica-gel and into the line/s. This kept the lines at a pressure that was slightly above ambient, preventing the line from "breathing" in and out. Andrew now manufactures a modern version of this device that still uses approximately a quart of silica-gel housed in a clear-plastic container. As you've said, the instructions tell us to place the silica-gel in a flat pan in a relatively low-temperature oven until the moisture-indicating colored granules return to normal. I've not seen any kind of corrosion or other negative factors associated with silica-gel in the 30+ years I've seen/used it. The question of how to apply it to the inside of a K2 remains .... Maybe put it in an infant's sock and put that inside a K2. There are some very transparent, finely woven fabrics that could be sewn into an appropiately sized "baggie" that would allow visual insprection to know then it's time to pop it into the oven. Think "Victoria's Secret ... (:-)) 73! Ken Kopp - K0PP [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
