Hey All,

I have been owner/operator of a regional wisp for 14 years, and have not had much opportunity to 'water cooler' talk with other wisps (wanted to goto wispalooza this year but couldnt make it). Anyhow, I have tried multiple methods of sealing our N-connectors, and yet nothing seems to be the end-all solution.

I am VERY talented with the (apparently tried and true) butyl taping method, but our connections started to get to close quarters and is horrible to do in -10f weather with 30mph winds. This method included a 'courtesy wrap' of high end 3m electrical tape, then the butyl, and the a perfect spiral of tape over the top.

The next method we tried and am currently using are the cold shrinks made by times, these are easy to install but at $30 a pop, they are expensive, and they dont fully seal down on lmr400, and finally the included butyl tape included in these make a complete mess of bulkheads.

Both of those solutions would still allow moisture into the connector and then condensate. Around this time every year we are swapping out pigtails, radios, antennas, and cables chasing poor snrs. Huge waste of face, time, and money. There has GOT to be a better solution.

I have people colocated on some of our towers that done use ANY method to seal, just an exposed N connector, and they are not new to the wisp game.

I have also seen some use ONLY tape, no butyl.

I have also read about people using no tape and just filling both ends of the N connectors with clear silicon dielectric.

I am going to 'bench' test (what may seem like a crazy idea) but filling connectors with dielectric, then using a spray rubber over the connection, I believe that the rubber would peel off nicely when needed.

What do you do and dont? What is everyone doing out there? I am VERY excited to get some feedback!

http://www.streakwave.com/itemdesc.asp? ... 05&eq=&Tp=

i usually use that and some regular tape to keep BIRDS from pecking at it, but its not necessary. Dielectric grease usually works really well too, but can be messy!

The way i look at it, is that you do it once, you do it right, and dont ever undo it againand do as many fittings on the ground as you can (obviously doesn't help for repairs or antenna swaps)

Yes, this is the same stuff we used to use, but as we are training new climbers, I cant take the risk of them making a mistake. Any other ideas?

Yes, this is the same stuff we used to use, but as we are training new climbers, I cant take the risk of them making a mistake. Any other ideas?

the best way is you have to come out some penalty on they pay.
如果有6个月内发生了一件事to they careless or not follow your instruction.

you should take the action.

after 4 years of searching, for now best solutionhttp://www.scapa.com/en/SelfAmalgamating.
but only SelfAmalgamating tape from Scapa, for us - any other vendor not have similar quality

@"theWISP"
You have highlighted one of the short coming of using any external RF connector exposed to the elements, we have managed with our network to reduce to minimum the amount of such N connectors (it is most frustrating trying to put on self amalgamating tape in damp conditions ? ) by using integrated AP's and mounting a enclosure box directly onto the back of a grid, another consideration apart from financial is unhappy customers as you mentioned...."Around this time every year we are swapping out pigtails, radios, antennas, and cables chasing poor snrs. Huge waste of face, time, and money. There has GOT to be a better solution."Is this at AP sites or CPE's or both?
Another overlooked fact is when you eliminate a RF lead there is less losses and more power the antenna, don't confuse quoted "insertion loss" as actual loss for example quoted insertion loss = 0.1db N connector x 2 + LMR400 = 0.2db = 0.4db but actual measured loss on site = 2db?


http://www.technologic.pl/index.php?pag ... &Itemid=29

http://itelite.net/en/Katalog/5-GHz-802 ... 6VBOX.html

A method that we've come up with for environments like jungles and marine applications is to treat the entire board with corrosion X including all the connectors, it's a dielectric and perfectly safe to submerge electronics in the stuff. We treat the coax the same way, saturating it with corrosion x and then sealing it with rubber tape before using some heat shrink tubing on it.

Well, for years I used rubber self fusion tapes (those 3M for HV insulation) on LMR400 & LMR600 N connectors and recently I disassembled a 10 year old VHV & UHF antenna instalation where connectors was shining like brand new.

WX here is really wet - tropical / sub-tropical forest 40km from sea, surrounded by a huge artificial lake. Temp range from 5°C to 40°C & UV index peaks 9 on clear days.

Cables and tapes was "green" after all those years so the polypropylene guying wires and some 2 inches dia fiberglass rods used for antenna support.

But as pointed before, chassis N female are so close to each other this days at the aluminum boxes I'm deploying that it's hard sometimes to wrap self fusion tapes around. And if you need to replace something at the tower or small poles there's the extra effort to cut the old tape, clean everything & etc. Under good wx no problem but on foggy days ...

I've been ~10 years around the CATV market on 90's and there for external plant - .5" to .75" coax - was common the use of heat shrinked seals + silicon grease. Heat came from electric powered hot air guns (or small / spray flame torchs). And there cames the snap'n seal F connectors + weather boots for RG59/RG6/RG11.

Well, today I use a locally produced "snap'n seal" N connector for LMR400 (and a locally produced foamed RG213), solderless. Easy to assemble/restore even on tower tops. But despite of the internal N male silicon gasket that in theory must keep the RF parts wx proof there came the extra self adhesive tape layer and all the handling problems when connectors are close to each other.

I'm thinking to test those CATVsilicon rubber weather bootsfor RG11 on LMR400. A dirt and thin layer of silicon grease spreaded with a plastic one-way glove folowed by wx-boot sleeve to its final place. Of course those boots must be fitted to the cable before N connectors instalation. Some models have a "flat" end that can touch aluminum enclosure surface, covering N female thread. To keep it tight in place a single thin tiewrap around the coax cable. And they're easy to disassemble.

Regards;

Thanks for everyones ideas!

So this is what we have decided on for our new installations, just some silicon dielectric in each end of the connector, and 1" Heat Shrink with the adhesive on the inside. We also put a small strip of butyl tape at the bottom of the heat shrink before we shrink. It is super easy, and a very good weather seal. Check out the picture below.


These are the first 3 I did on the bed of my truck. You can see the middle one was done best, however the others will work just as well. You can also see the dielectric oozing out the top. This really is an excellent seal. I have no worries about its weather abilities or how difficult it will be to remove.

Now, we have also decided to do away with the N-Female bulkheads with the exposed N-Connector (like in the picture). Instead we will be purchasing 15' LMR240U cables with N-Male on one end for the antenna and BNC on the other end (for radio). We will then feed the BNC end through a regular ethernet grommet, and have a BNC to MMCX pigtail to goto the card. Thats one less exposed connection, one less variable of having our onsite techs making the cables as they will be pre-made, and the BNC connector will provide a 'locked' style of connection. Most of our antennas are mounted directly next to our enclosure, with the exception of a few, so the premade lenght of 15' will be just fine. And the overall loss on such short cables is minimal when using lmr240U vs lmr400.

I am pretty excited about this method, and we will be doing a 2 new tower installations this week again, I will put up some pictures to share.

Anybody have good or bad thoughts on this?

I'm hoping the heat shrink tubing you're using is UV stabilised? I have seen some crack open after a summer season. But if they are UV stabilised, that should do the trick as the adhesive will also assist it to stay put. Looks good.

Although we have very few external RF connectors now. We pass the RF cable through into the box via an olive and connect everything up inside the boxes if we have to have external cables. The only coax cable end we will then need to remove or tape up is the one on the odd aerial or two. But most aerials are now sectorial and have the RB inside the rear casing of the antennae. The pig tail is now the only piece of RF cable between the RB and the antennae and that of course is now all inside the box. We have also stopped using uFL as trying to push on such a stupid connector when your hands are freezing cold at 100ft up with a howling gale around your ears is no joke. We have switched to MMCX and it is easier. Not perfect, but a lot better. We always make sure we carry enough of them with us anyway just in case they break. As well as spare cards of course.

10 - 20年前,我一直使用传统的“不rmal' black electrical insulating tape first, followed by what we called Denso tape. Disgusting stuff to apply, it sticks to everything, including your gloves, pockets and clothes, but superb at keeping the rain off! See old photo below of an ODU taped up with the Denso Tape. I think it is also used for large scale industrial plumbing for sealing joints against corrosion? I always hated removing such tape, because of the impregnated petroleum but luckily that was rare. As with mramos, once you seal them up properly, they never needed touching again. Then I was told that self-amalgamating tape was all the rage, but have never been completely convinced. It's OK when you're sat on the ground, in the warm, but when it's cold and your wearing gloves, the tape is difficult to get in between the N's without it turning into a very thin string instead of a wide strip!

Also, luckily I am now of an age where I can send much younger 'fools' to climb towers on my behalf while I sit in a warm cabin or truck underneath them and direct them via a 2 way radio! So it's no longer that much of a problem for me anymore.

Nest, the link to your website isn't ok in the signature : P!www.www.www.www.www.www

We use rubber self fusion tapes and it works perfect. We did some revisions in coast instalations and winter ice instalations and the connectors are like new ones : P!

Take care to leave the connectors in the bottom of the box and use this rubber self fusion tapes.

I use properly set up coaxial connections and drop circles to avoid wetness from propagating through coaxial wire.同轴适配器

Hello, If you are still operating your WISP I would like to speak with you about a potential partnership.
当你到达我!

Hey All,

I have been owner/operator of a regional wisp for 14 years, and have not had much opportunity to 'water cooler' talk with other wisps (wanted to goto wispalooza this year but couldnt make it). Anyhow, I have tried multiple methods of sealing our N-connectors, and yet nothing seems to be the end-all solution.

I am VERY talented with the (apparently tried and true) butyl taping method, but our connections started to get to close quarters and is horrible to do in -10f weather with 30mph winds. This method included a 'courtesy wrap' of high end 3m electrical tape, then the butyl, and the a perfect spiral of tape over the top.

The next method we tried and am currently using are the cold shrinks made by times, these are easy to install but at $30 a pop, they are expensive, and they dont fully seal down on lmr400, and finally the included butyl tape included in these make a complete mess of bulkheads.

Both of those solutions would still allow moisture into the connector and then condensate. Around this time every year we are swapping out pigtails, radios, antennas, and cables chasing poor snrs. Huge waste of face, time, and money. There has GOT to be a better solution.

I have people colocated on some of our towers that done use ANY method to seal, just an exposed N connector, and they are not new to the wisp game.

I have also seen some use ONLY tape, no butyl.

I have also read about people using no tape and just filling both ends of the N connectors with clear silicon dielectric.

I am going to 'bench' test (what may seem like a crazy idea) but filling connectors with dielectric, then using a spray rubber over the connection, I believe that the rubber would peel off nicely when needed.

What do you do and dont? What is everyone doing out there? I am VERY excited to get some feedback!

Hey Fitbrama - What do you got? We/I am always up to listen...