static discharge coils installed... Photos

[WD5JKO]

  Clark,

   Just think with your new lowered noise floor on 75m, you might actually copy some of those 30 DB / S9 guys practicing the "East Coast Audio"! 

Good Post,
Jim
WD5JKO

[ke7trp]

I will sure try!   IN the winter I could hear you guys and sometimes talk over there..  Thanks for the comments!


Clark

[WBear2GCR]

I had a piece of this wire left over so I smeared the silicone over it on a paper plate. If it corrodes, I will know. I think I am ok. We looked this up on the web. I did find that from now on, use Bathroom or plumbing grade product. They will never bother the copper since its used near copper pipes.

Thanks for the comments. I am on the air now and things seem better.  Before, The pops would whipe out the RX. Now its just noisey out.. Not big pops.


Clark

Incorrect. All of the Silicone rubber sold for home use uses Acetic Acid (the "smell") for the cure, with moisture. It is the residual Acetic Acid that causes corrosion. GE sold "Sil-Pruf" which is a non acetic acid silicone rubber material. ONLY those products that do not use the acetic acid cure method will not have any corrosion issues.

IF the corrosion could be an issue over time is another matter. It won't happen all that fast in most cases.

                 _-_-bear

Edit: I just read the comment on Silicone II - I do not believe it. I used the stuff recently, and it uses acetic acid cure system... I think one would need to contact the industrial side and get an application engineer for an accurate response. The consumer side usually has no clue in my experience. But it would be nice if it was true.

[ke7trp]

Bear. Thanks for your concerns. However, I spoke with GE directly and they explained that this product I used is NOT corrosive.  Some products are but most are not these days.  Its not a worry to me as I did not put silicone on any area that is touching copper. It is touching stainless at the screw threads but it wont harm the stainless even if GE lied to me.

Clark

[W1ATR]

Well, to overkill the whole condensation thing to the highest degree, why not purge the box with nitrogen. If theres no air, there will be no humidity, and in the event that the dew point is reached inside the box, there will be no condensation forming on anything.

I have some control systems in building basements around here where humidity would kill them. Some of these controls run in the $20K range, so protecting them is a priority when they cant be installed in conditioned space. The boxes they are in are setup in such a way that they can be purged completely, then set with 2psi of nitro along with a pressure switch wired into the control alarm circuit. Pressure loss lights an idiot light on the control panel and causes the system to store a code and blink a light in the managers office so he can call u$. (oops, did I hit the dollar sign instead of the 's' again, lol.)

Anyway, in the case of one of these outdoor boxes like yer coils are in, as long as your box is air tight, you could drill a 1/4" hole in the cover, shove a blowgun in there with a small tube on the end, and let nitrogen flow for a couple minutes at around 2-3psig. The air will be chased out thru the hole around the outside of the tube leaving only a nitro atmosphere inside the box. Have a 1/4" pipe plug handy already white taped and pull the tube out slowly with the nitro still flowing. Get the tube out and send the plug in right after it sealing in the nitro charge.

Years from now, someone will buy that from your estate auction off epay, open it up, and be amazed at how well preserved the interior components are.

On edit: I have a TMC kw balun around here somewhere that used the same technique with the nitro and the insides look like the day they made. It's 60 years old or so and started life at a some coastal station.

73
 

[Opcom]

In some color TV sets that used 9 or 12 pin based sweep tubes, the sweep tube and damper were often held in place by a "large" drop of gray silicon on the base where it touched the tube and socket and the wires from the socket. There was never any corrosion even when the sets were 15 years old.

[ke7trp]

Yeah.. There is no issues these days with modern products. I have researched it. Even GE told me this wont happen anymore. The products are used and misused in plumbing all the time.  I am not worried because I did not use it on any metal. I just used it on the plastic lid and to hold the coils down. 

I am really enjoying my new RX!  Not one single reciever POP since the install. I have been through storms and high winds.. Nothing.  My only regret is that I did not do this a long time ago.

CLark

[KC4KFC]

So are these type coils a good idea for anywhere? Not just the desert southwest?  Will it kill my QRN in thunderstorm alley here in middle Tennessee?   Did anybody advise what inductance would be ideal?  I'm thinkin of just winding up some to try. 93 turns on 2" diameter form. What is the center form made of?

[KD6VXI]

So are these type coils a good idea for anywhere? Not just the desert southwest?  Will it kill my QRN in thunderstorm alley here in middle Tennessee?   Did anybody advise what inductance would be ideal?  I'm thinkin of just winding up some to try. 93 turns on 2" diameter form. What is the center form made of?

They are a good idea if you don't use a DC Grounded antenna.  If your antenna is already at DC ground, no bennie.

Form can be anything.

I used the formula (and I can't remember where this came from) of 10 times Xl at lowest freq. of interest.  Ensure you sweep coil to ensure no resonances as well.

--Shane

[ke7trp]

http://www.66pacific.com/calculators/coil_calc.aspx

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

It will do nothing for thunderstorm QRN.

So are these type coils a good idea for anywhere? Not just the desert southwest?  Will it kill my QRN in thunderstorm alley here in middle Tennessee?   Did anybody advise what inductance would be ideal?  I'm thinkin of just winding up some to try. 93 turns on 2" diameter form. What is the center form made of?

[ke7trp]

Yes and no..  If you hear lighting crashes on the reciever.. we cant stop that. However, If you hear crashes and POPs that take out the RX for a moment, The coils might help.  Before, I would hear the crash over the air and the RX would pop up in the Red. The AGC would pull back and then take a moment to give RX back.  This is totaly solved with the coils in my situation. Since the install, I have not had one time where the RX has been knocked out and the pops are GONE.   I have talked on the air with storms passing by 50 miles out. Major noise and crashes.. Not one pop on the RX.

I installed one on my vertical and again.. This really lowered noise.  You can use a project box or a large Coffee can for the enclosure.  Just install two panel mount coax connectors on the can. Then mount the coil inside. One side of the coil to the hot lead and one to the metal on the can. Then, Ground the can to a good ground rod.

I have been really enjoying radio again.  But maybe this solved other issues and other sources of noise that dont come to mind for system. Its Dry here. We have lots of Ground source lightning and lots of summer monsoons. Its a wirlwind of electrical activity where I live.

Clark

[Mike/W8BAC]

Clark,

I'm happy your having good luck with those Array Solutions inductors. Mine work fine as well. Yes they are a bit expensive but after trying them I'm sure you see how easy they are to copy.

Something you might want to add now are some spark gap's for lightening protection. The way I found those Array Solutions inductors was by trying an Ice Products combination spark gap and static drain box. The drains failed instantly under AM duty cycle so I gutted them and replaced both with the inductors instead of the ferrite core devices Ice Products used.

I'm looking now at the spark gap devices in the box. They look like small neon bulbs with ridiculously small conductors that would turn to vapor in an instant if I got hit.

I'm going to try this idea (picture below). It will take two heavy duty spark plugs (one on each side of the feed line) and I think I'll put the gaps in a sealed box to keep bugs and dirt out.

Mike

[ke7trp]

Neat idea.. I saw that used in an issue of QST once.  I could mount the plugs in my box.

Clark

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

What you were experience was not thunderstorm QRN. It was static build up on your antenna. Two largely different things.

Yes and no..  If you hear lighting crashes on the reciever.. we cant stop that. However, If you hear crashes and POPs that take out the RX for a moment, The coils might help.  Before, I would hear the crash over the air and the RX would pop up in the Red. The AGC would pull back and then take a moment to give RX back.  This is totaly solved with the coils in my situation. Since the install, I have not had one time where the RX has been knocked out and the pops are GONE.   I have talked on the air with storms passing by 50 miles out. Major noise and crashes.. Not one pop on the RX.

I installed one on my vertical and again.. This really lowered noise.  You can use a project box or a large Coffee can for the enclosure.  Just install two panel mount coax connectors on the can. Then mount the coil inside. One side of the coil to the hot lead and one to the metal on the can. Then, Ground the can to a good ground rod.

I have been really enjoying radio again.  But maybe this solved other issues and other sources of noise that dont come to mind for system. Its Dry here. We have lots of Ground source lightning and lots of summer monsoons. Its a wirlwind of electrical activity where I live.

Clark