Thread: Coaxial Cable
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Old 21-Jan-2011, 6:45 PM   #4
GroundUrMast
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Location: Greater Seattle Area
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As far as sealing is concerned, common electrical tape is less than ideal. When water leaks in (and it will) the tape holds the moisture there. Coax seal tape is far more reliable: Example or 3M Scotch 2228. Use of the older crimp connectors has been made obsolete by the newer, superior design compression connectors, some of which are rated as water tight: Paladin-Waterproof-Compression-connectors

A few folks use dielectric grease: http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-22058.../ref=pd_cp_e_1 Though others have reported some signal loss. I have not seen that happen and have had experience with dielectric grease in applications on microwave systems mounted 130 feet up communication towers. I have seen dielectric grease attack some types of weather boots (from Radio Shack) I don't know if the boot was natural rubber or a synthetic material.

RG-6 will have less loss, but that alone would be impossible to observe on the screen in most situations. If there is water in the coax now, I would expect improvement if you replace the cable with new. Water will change the electrical properties of any coax, in unpredictable but most certainly, negative ways. For analog signals, 'snow' and 'ghosting' would be common symptoms of bad coax, but those symptoms can be caused by many other factors as well.

Eighteen years is enough reason to consider replacing the coax, you got your money's worth out of it.
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Last edited by GroundUrMast; 7-Nov-2011 at 3:15 AM.
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