Don,
You bet there is! At each slip joint between sections of aluminum
tubing, sand the inside and outside mating surfaces until they're
bright, clean them with solvent, and immediately coat those surfaces
with a granular-zinc-based contact enhancement compound such as
Penetrox, Adalox, No-Alox, or similar compound. The stuff you want is
gray, not copper-colored, and you can find tubes of it in most
electrical supply and home improvement stores. It's intended for
terminating aluminum conductors. Use this compound at threaded joints
as well, but NOT on the coaxial cable connector. A small dab of
silicone dielectric compound, usually supplied with the antenna, on the
threads of the connector will make it easy to remove years from now.
Finally, overwrap the coaxial connector with self-vulcanizing rubber
tape to seal it from water intrusion.
My radio club has a G7-220 antenna, as well as an R-8, that were
assembled with these precautions- in a coastal environment, no less- and
they're both performing well two years later. I also know of similar
antennas assembled without these precautions that are plagued with noise
and erratic operation. A little time spent during assembly will reap
great dividends!
Your choice of LDF4-50 Heliax for a feedline is an excellent one, and it
should perform well in your installation.
73, Eric Lemmon WB6FLY
Don wrote:
>
> I just ordered a Hustler G-7 220 Base ant to for Now be used as a Remote link
> to My 440 Repeater, it will be up about 75 Ft using � In LDF4-50, Before I
> put it up is there any thing I should do to it to make it better?
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