Hi Jim, The last time I re-plugged those connectors after having my K3's sub out, I did apply a small amount of dielectric grease to the tip and the shell. Just used very little smear (not a glob) on the tip of my finger to touch those parts. That also made correct and full insertion easier.
Contacts use pressure to squoosh their little conductive hills into/onto the mating surface. After that, they need protection from atmospheric and moisture deterioration. The grease keeps it from reaching those microscopic areas as it gets pushed aside all around of where they squoosh. I've been using it on outdoor coax connectors for ages, and recenrly on the braid of crimp-on connectors before crimping. Never had an issue . 73, Chet, N8RA -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net <elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Jim Rhodes Sent: Friday, June 6, 2025 10:26 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] TMP connectors My K3 does not get a lot of use anymore because its spot on the desk has been taken by the K4D. Now the K4 has been at the mothership and the K3 was perking along just fine and then went silent suddenly. No receive, no transmit. I opened it up and poked around a bit the next day with the top cover off and all of a sudden the receive started crackling and transmit was fine. Buttoned it back up and it worked fine during off and on use for a few days, then it went quiet again after an all day stretch. So I popped the top and twisted all of the TMP connectors that I could reach, powered it up and it has been working fine again. My question to the group is: Has anyone ever gone to the trouble of treating all of those pesky little connectors with some kind of dialectric grease to keep them from this kind of behavior? By the time you add the second receiver and the 2 meter board there gets to be a lot of the little buggers in there and most of them are hard to get at. Seems like it might be a good project to try now that the K4 is on its way home again. Jim K0XU j...@rhodesend.net ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to chetsubacco...@snet.net ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
