Yeah, Colin, I hear you on your last point.  It's just that we were 
racing against the loss of daylight, and wanted to get as far as we could 
last night.  The antenna is on top of a 40-foot mast which is on top of my 
garage roof.  The mast is in sections, and is collapsable, so maybe I could 
get to it myself if needed somewhere later down the road.  I'll just have to 
wait till my bravery level gets up there again.  Oh, how nice it would be to 
be young, fearless, and verile again!  (smile)

73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2011 12:39 AM
Subject: Re: Small dilemma; Need some advice


> don't worry about it.
> and if it really bothers you, do it yourself and have done with it.
> Is there some reason you can't lower the antenna down and put the coax 
> seal
> on yourself?
> Also, you should put the seal tape or whatever your using on first, then
> wrap electrical tape around that instead of putting the tape on, then the
> sealer.
> However, electrical tape, will work fine as long as enough was put on.
> As long as you just let other people do the detailed stuff, you have to 
> kind
> of take what your given.
> The coax connection can be done on the ground before the antenna goes up, 
> so
> it's not like you couldn't have made certain the connection was how you
> wanted it before it was up in the air.
>
> 73
> Colin, V A6BS
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2011 8:30 PM
> Subject: Small dilemma; Need some advice
>
>
>> Hi, all.
>>
>> Well, to make a very long story short, I have decided to take my
>> troublesome
>> Carolina Windom 160 compact antenna down, and am in the process of
>> replacing
>> it with a 160-meter sloper, and an 80-meter sloper that I purchased at a
>> swap in my area last week-end.
>>
>> We are in the middle of the antenna replacement process, but I'm hoping 
>> it
>> should be done by later tomorrow.
>>
>> All has gone well, except for one small issue, which I'm torn about how 
>> to
>> deal with.  This is the kind of issue where we've all been there when
>> trying
>> to deal with volunteer help who doesn't do things like we would.
>>
>> Anyway, my friend installed the 160-meter sloper at the top of my 40-foot
>> mast, but when I asked him how he sealed the coax connection at the feed
>> point, he said that he coated the connector with a dialectric grease, and
>> then tightly wrapped three layers of electrical tape around the
>> connection.
>> The tape he used was some real good 3 M tape that I had gotten a while
>> ago.
>> I had wanted him to put coax seal on top of the tape, but he would not do
>> it, arguing that what he did should be fine.
>>
>> Obviously, my concern is that the electrical tape eventually will
>> deteriorate, and let water into the connection.
>>
>> I'm trying to figure out a tactful way to bring up this issue again with
>> him
>> when he comes back tomorrow, but, at the same time, I don't want to 
>> offend
>> him, since he has done so much for me already.
>>
>> Does anyone have any ideas as to how to tactfully handle the situation?
>> Obviously, if just having the electrical tape was good enough, I wouldn't
>> stress about it, but I would sure hate to be introducing unnecessary
>> problems into the situation here.
>>
>> 73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ
>>
>