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Old October 16th 15, 05:25 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna
gareth gareth is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Sep 2012
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Default Weatherproofing an out doors ATU?

"highlandham" wrote in message
...
On 16/10/15 16:41, gareth wrote:
I wonder what you all do to weatherproof an external ATU, both
to keep the weather out, and also to prevent condensation within?

A small brick-built cabinet, perhaps?


Suggest you consider a small heater,depending on free space in enclosure
Perhaps you can get an old coffee maker with a small (keep the coffee
warm) 230-110 V heater feeding it with 12V or about volts AC or DC.
resulting in a ¨warm¨ surface , keeping the inside dry.
Alternatively a suitable resistor will do for example one in a ribbed
metal housing with 2 mounting holes.........possibilities galore.


Perhaps a 40W incandescent bulb, if one can still get them despite the
European directive that we mist all now use mercury-filled flourescent
bulbs.

Which reminds me of an interesting snippet from 37 years ago. I was involved
in
the software design for a SCADA system that interworked with the on-site
Strowger
PABX at a National Grid substation. Some of the uniselectors had been
replaced by Dekatrons,
which were still mounted in those battleship-grey enclosures. Inside each
enclosure was a 40W light bilb
permanently switched on because apparently the Dekatrons triggered more
reliably when a source of light
(or even heat?) was present