Thanks much, Colin.

You guys are a big help as usual.

73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: sealing outdoor coax connections


> Tom:
> You have already gotten most of the information you'll need, but as per
> normal, I will put my quarters worth in anyway.
> As was said, put the sealer tape on first to give the connection a good
> solid water tight seal.  If the electrical tape goes on first, as john
> mentioned, any gaps or spaces left by the tape will potentially gather
> moisture, dirt, dust or what ever else might happen by.
> The electrical tape is really not necessary on the outside at all, except
> for perhaps keeping dirt and dust from sticking to the sticky outer 
> surface
> of the sealer tape.
> I suppose electrical tape offers some amount of protection, but its so
> minimal as to be useless.
> So, don't put electrical tape on first, then the sealer...who ever told 
> you
> this was not using his/her collective grey sells in a productive manner.
> However, any of the connections i put together, always have a good chunk 
> of
> sealer tape on them, as well as a wrap of electrical tape on the
> outside...better safe then sorry I always say.
> If the connection is going to be in a particularly wet location, such as
> near the ground on a vehicle, or near the roof where water flows off, then
> use plenty of sealer tape, at least two complete layers to insure all 
> wraps
> are over lapped.
> Also, you should wrap not only the point of connection, but also the spot
> where the coax enters the PL259connecter.  If you make this all one 
> complete
> continuous wrap from the same peace of tape, then the seal will be very
> good.
> You won't have any leakage problems as long as the ends of the tape or 
> seal
> are well sealed.
> The tape backing is to keep the tape from sticking to itself on the roll, 
> so
> always take that off...since its just paper, with the first rain, it will
> dissolve and cause large gaps in the tape and break the seal.
> good luck.
> I'd love to be able to outfit an RV with ham antennas...sounds like a fun
> project.
> 73
> Colin, V A6BKX
>