I have recently had two PL 259s and mating SO234s develop black crud at
their contact point. Rx was fine but on Tx a very high SWL resulted at the
rig.
In both cases I totally cleaned the male PL259 pin and SO234 female
receptacle, all is now fine.
My thought is that somehow a slight bit of moisture got inside and caused
arcing at the contact point. One connection lasted 12 years, the other abt
4 years. I have never put any grease or silicone on a PL259 or SO234.
Any thoughts on this internal arcing and how to prevent it?
Ray,
N6VR/W7YA
On Fri, Jul 22, 2022, 6:53 PM <john@kk9a.com> wrote:
> I have PL-259 and N connectors in use that are likely that old however none
> have stayed connected anywhere near that time frame. It is a good question
> but you cannot really complain about 25 years of service. I do not apply
> anything inside the connector and use quality connectors such as Amphenol
> and Andrew/Commscope. W8JI has an article on grease and he states
> conductive grease should never be used in RF connectors.
> https://www.w8ji.com/dielectric_grease_vs_conductive_grease.htm
>
> GL
> John KK9A
>
>
>
> k7nj wrote:
>
> After over 25 years I've found some problems with connector conductivity at
> my 4X4NJ station. I would be interested in knowing about experience that
> any of you may have with reliable connector conductivity for similar time
> periods. This is primarily with PL-259, N-Type, and hard-line connectors
> and associated adapters. In particular, any experience with the following
> would be helpful:
>
> 1. Nothing done to ensure conductivity
>
> 2. Silicon grease
>
> 3. Penetrox (or similar)
>
> 4. "STUF" dielectric water proofing filler
>
> I'm interested mainly in actual experience that you have had after many
> years of using any of the above, or other, methods. Please note that I'm
> not seeking methods for waterproofing - just in keeping the connection
> between mating surfaces highly conductive assuming waterproofing is good.
>
> 73, Riki K7NJ
>
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