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Re: [TowerTalk] Coax ground braid

To: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com, towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Coax ground braid
From: Bob Ad5vj <ad5vj@ad5vj.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:54:23 -0500
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
So it is water damage. 

When I make up my coaxes, I always solder all the holes at the pl-259 and seal 
it with coax selfsealing tape and adhesive lined doublewalled heatshrink. So no 
water got in at the connectors I dont think.

This coax was given to me on a roll 500' long to make 2 80 meter bazookas. He 
said the roll was found some years before and kept in a shed and I could keep 
the rest. So the water damage must have been there all along.

Free is not always free.

I will remake the station grounds, even though I spent all afternoon taking the 
station apart and cutting out the braids to make sure it was right.

I was always told to use flat braid for station grounds in years past for RF 
purposes and if you didnt have any, make it from coax braid.

Guess W3LPL has found out different.


tnx Bob AD5VJ


Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G

Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com> wrote:

On 4/16/2012 11:08 AM, Bob Ad5vj wrote:
> In doing so, after removing the outer jacket I see places where the copper is 
> black in some areas. Some places as much as a foot long.
>
> 1. Will this hurt the conductivity as a ground braid assuning I clean it up 
> where I make contact from the equipment?

YES -- that's corrosion, and it can greatly reduce the conductivity of 
the braid.

>
> 2. Has anyone seen this before?

Sure. it means your coax has gotten wet.

>
> 3. Does this mean I need to changeout all my 3yr old coax outside which came 
> off the same roll at the same time?

If it all looks like that, YES.  I'd do some more inspection first.  
Water gets into coax either at connectors, or at tiny breaks in the 
outer jacket, look for damage and for poor waterproofing.

And I would be a lot more careful with what  I bought to replace it, and 
I'd also be VERY careful about proper installation of connectors, and of 
waterproofing all the connections.
73, Jim K9YC
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