Alternatives to 802.11b bridges

"Jeff Liebermann"

| >Might also look into shrink tubing with a shot of RTV/silicone compound then | >heat shrink the entire connection. to remove score the heat shrink tubing | >then heat and it will peel back. | | The RTV will permanently glue itself to the connector. That's fine if | you want everything to be permanent. The acetic acid in the RTV will | also attack silver plating. | | 3M makes cold shrink tubing with a sticky interior. They're used by | power utilities to insulate and waterproof cable splices. I've used | them for coax connectors but they have some nasty limitations. The | sticky goo is well... sticky and gooey. No fun to remove. The cold | shrink is very thick and therefore does not deal with the radical | transition in diameter at the end of the coax connectors. The tubing | has to be much longer than the connector in order to make a good seal. | The thickness also makes is rather difficult to cut and remove. The | large air gap at the coax connector to coax cable junction often gets | wrinkled if the cable assembly is bent. The resultant gap at the coax | end lets in considerable moisture. Also, they're kind expensive. | |

We used the system on marine radars since the mid '60s. Some are still in use where as without the entire cabling systems had to be replace usually in less than 3 years. Silver is not on the outside of the connectors and infrequently on the inside even back to the '60s this to X-band marine radars. Also worked on communications system up to 8-900 MHz.

I've never had a real problem getting the shrink tubing or the RTV off connectors. Maybe because we sliced the shrink tubing with a box knief then used a torch to separate the *stuff* from the cabling.