I was busy cleaning up a used KT-34A this afternoon and a friend came by.
I was scraping off some silicone rubber that had been glopped all over the
antenna and he cautioned about doing too much scraping. He said it would
remove the "anodizing" from the aluminum and it would turn black.
I wasn't sure I bought this, but this is a very smart guy. He is not an
antenna expert, but works at the nuke plant and is very knowledgeable (he's
an enginneer). I have seen aluminum elements turn dull and gray after
time, but I figured that was just a natural chemical process related to
weather, contamination, etc.
I have to get the silicone off in order to reassemble the antenna, and so
far it has resisted all chemical attacks (gasoline, turpentine, etc). That
leaves scraping, and probably a rotary wire brush.
I never thought anything special was done to aluminum tubing and it was OK
to scrape, polish etc. Am I wrong? (I remember a thread on polishing
elements awhile ago, but I don't think this was addressed).
Dennis, W5RZ
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