|
|
Post by Afterburner(OT-749) on Nov 29, 2015 7:27:14 GMT -5
I guess I want to pose this question to any of the antenna "Guru's" that are on this forum. I have taken down my Moonraker 4 to "rebuild" it. In the past when I have done this, twice so far in the 12 years that I have owned it, before re-assembly, I make sure ALL contact points are clean of corrosion and oxidation. When I have re-assembled it, I use a the same anti-corrosion compound that is used in normal electrical service where aluminum wire is concerned. I have not ever "cleaned the actual aluminum tubing of all the radial. I have applied anti-corrosion compound to where the two parts of the radials slide together and then that one whole piece into the hub assembly, all the hardware is replaced with new stainless hardware and also lightly coated. It has been suggested that I should clean the oxidation off the length of the radials also, not just the contact points. That could be a lot of rubbing with some fine grade steel wool. Yeah it would make it look brand new and shiny, but does it or would it effect quality of transmission? Does the fact that I have not cleaned the oxidation off the full length of the radials previously make any difference in the transmitted signal or radiation pattern? I have never had a problem SWR wise ever, vertical or flat, and I am still able to transmit and receive the stations that I have spoken to for years here the same and get the same reports back from them as to the "quality of my transmission". Would like those who know more than I to chime in please. I am in no rush to put the Raker back up as I usually have taken it down before winter hit's hard and put it back up in the spring, that way I have something to do in the garage during the cold winter months. Yes, my garage is a free standing two story 3 car garage that has it own environmental system. I have heat in the winter and A/C in the summer so it is my "Man Cave" all year long! In my experience, surface tarnish or corrosion has little to no effect on an antenna's efficiency. The only places that it matters is at the connection points. Keep those points as clean as you can, but anything more than that only helps make it "look like new", and not really doing anything helpful electrically. Read more: grumpy.proboards.com/thread/7579/antenna-re-conditioning?page=1&scrollTo=48182#ixzz3suon1sKC Thank you Sandbagger. You have expressed what I have always thought. |
|
Sandbagger
Administrator/The Boss 
Posts: 6,246 
|
Post by Sandbagger on Nov 29, 2015 13:52:26 GMT -5
I guess I want to pose this question to any of the antenna "Guru's" that are on this forum. I have taken down my Moonraker 4 to "rebuild" it. In the past when I have done this, twice so far in the 12 years that I have owned it, before re-assembly, I make sure ALL contact points are clean of corrosion and oxidation. When I have re-assembled it, I use a the same anti-corrosion compound that is used in normal electrical service where aluminum wire is concerned. I have not ever "cleaned the actual aluminum tubing of all the radial. I have applied anti-corrosion compound to where the two parts of the radials slide together and then that one whole piece into the hub assembly, all the hardware is replaced with new stainless hardware and also lightly coated. It has been suggested that I should clean the oxidation off the length of the radials also, not just the contact points. That could be a lot of rubbing with some fine grade steel wool. Yeah it would make it look brand new and shiny, but does it or would it effect quality of transmission? Does the fact that I have not cleaned the oxidation off the full length of the radials previously make any difference in the transmitted signal or radiation pattern? I have never had a problem SWR wise ever, vertical or flat, and I am still able to transmit and receive the stations that I have spoken to for years here the same and get the same reports back from them as to the "quality of my transmission". Would like those who know more than I to chime in please. I am in no rush to put the Raker back up as I usually have taken it down before winter hit's hard and put it back up in the spring, that way I have something to do in the garage during the cold winter months. Yes, my garage is a free standing two story 3 car garage that has it own environmental system. I have heat in the winter and A/C in the summer so it is my "Man Cave" all year long! In my experience, surface tarnish or corrosion has little to no effect on an antenna's efficiency. The only places that it matters is at the connection points. Keep those points as clean as you can, but anything more than that only helps make it "look like new", and not really doing anything helpful electrically. |
|
|
|
Post by Afterburner(OT-749) on Nov 29, 2015 15:42:10 GMT -5
I guess I want to pose this question to any of the antenna "Guru's" that are on this forum. I have taken down my Moonraker 4 to "rebuild" it. In the past when I have done this, twice so far in the 12 years that I have owned it, before re-assembly, I make sure ALL contact points are clean of corrosion and oxidation. When I have re-assembled it, I use a the same anti-corrosion compound that is used in normal electrical service where aluminum wire is concerned. I have not ever "cleaned the actual aluminum tubing of all the radial. I have applied anti-corrosion compound to where the two parts of the radials slide together and then that one whole piece into the hub assembly, all the hardware is replaced with new stainless hardware and also lightly coated. It has been suggested that I should clean the oxidation off the length of the radials also, not just the contact points. That could be a lot of rubbing with some fine grade steel wool. Yeah it would make it look brand new and shiny, but does it or would it effect quality of transmission? Does the fact that I have not cleaned the oxidation off the full length of the radials previously make any difference in the transmitted signal or radiation pattern? I have never had a problem SWR wise ever, vertical or flat, and I am still able to transmit and receive the stations that I have spoken to for years here the same and get the same reports back from them as to the "quality of my transmission". Would like those who know more than I to chime in please. I am in no rush to put the Raker back up as I usually have taken it down before winter hit's hard and put it back up in the spring, that way I have something to do in the garage during the cold winter months. Yes, my garage is a free standing two story 3 car garage that has it own environmental system. I have heat in the winter and A/C in the summer so it is my "Man Cave" all year long! In my experience, surface tarnish or corrosion has little to no effect on an antenna's efficiency. The only places that it matters is at the connection points. Keep those points as clean as you can, but anything more than that only helps make it "look like new", and not really doing anything helpful electrically. Thanks Sandbagger! You have expressed what I have always believed/thought. |
|
|
|
Post by cbrown on Nov 30, 2015 10:15:20 GMT -5
In my experience, surface tarnish or corrosion has little to no effect on an antenna's efficiency. The only places that it matters is at the connection points. Keep those points as clean as you can, but anything more than that only helps make it "look like new", and not really doing anything helpful electrically. I agree. Keep the connection points cleaned. |
|
roadrunner
Mudduck
Just got here today. Looking forward to talking to anyone about RF radios and antennas.
Posts: 37
|
Post by roadrunner on Dec 12, 2015 11:27:20 GMT -5
As far as i know about aluminum corrosion and oxidation, RF will not have any affect on the outside elements performance, but on all my antennas that are subject to any kind of corrosion are treated with preventive steps to help with this. The steps i take is to scotch-Bite all the aluminum elements. Next i use aluminum polish on them until they are like chrome.
In the end you will find that the aluminum polish will slow down the oxidation and corrosion. You can take it even farther if you like, I have done this in the past at home and at work. There has been studys done on this to see if you can paint or clear-coat the antenna. Yes you can for most antennas but not all frequencies.The Higher up frequencies would not be a good ideal but with 11 meter's you won't have any problems. The only thing is don't use any Metallic paint.
|
|
