"Jim Higgins" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 04 Apr 2006 20:05:34 -0700, Richard Clark
wrote:

On Wed, 05 Apr 2006 02:46:14 GMT, "AK" wrote:

Reg thinks it's the tape's lack of water sealing. I have been using some
putty-like sealer on my 239s lately, but it is a mess to clean off when
disconnecting and re-connecting the coax - as sometimes required.

Hi OM,

Lay down a layer of tape first.
Seal it with the sealer (much cheaper from flower shops).
Lay down another layer of tape.


For the past 20 years I've used the same piece of coax running to a
ground mounted vertical antenna. The coax runs across the top of the
ground. The threads of the PL259/SO239 connection at the antenna are
sealed with plumber's grease on the threads of the connector. The
barrel of the PL259 behind the threaded sleeve is wrapped with high
quality white vinyl tape extending about 4 inches up the coax. I
remove the PL259 every week or so in the summer to move the coax while
I mow the lawn. About 6 months ago I figured it was time to inspect
things so I cut off the PL259, expecting to find corrosion requiring
cutting the coax back to find clean shield or requiring coax
replacement. Not so. I found clean copper shield at the cut end. The
coax jacket wasn't at all brittle so I soldered on a new PL259,
greased it and the SO239, and figure I'm good to go for a few more
years.

Jim Higgins, KB3PU

Same experience here, I grease eveything up with DC4 dielectric grease, not
only does it keep the water out it acts like anti-sieze to make it come
apert easy and wrap every thing in some good vinyl tape. One thing I have
done a few times is to place some steel fishing leader under the tape.
Whenever I want to open the splice just pull on the leader and it slices it
open.

I still like to use heatshrink over the tape to give the tape some UV
protection. I never trust heatshrik alone. I have had bad experience with
this.