SALT NEVER SLEEPS: PJ2T BENCHER PADDLE

The photos below are of one of the Bencher paddles at the PJ2T contest station on Curacao. This buildup of salt and corrosion is approximately one year's accumulation: the paddle was cleaned and rehabbed last year.

Maintenance is a continuing requirement at a Caribbean station. PJ2T is on a 37-foot cliff overlooking the Caribbean, and so the salt air blows around the equipment all the time. Four paddles were in this condition, and were cleaned prior to CQWW CW.

Consider that this is just a small issue amid many maintenance issues. There are towers, guys, and antennas outside, where the salt air also does its work at all times.  We have had PC boards in computers, power supplies, and radios with tracks corroded away.

For the outside,  the towers are painted annually with 2-part epoxy marine paint. The metal (1/4-inch EHS) parts of  guys are painted and coated with electrical tape, and all joints with insulators are taped and covered with duct seal and more tape.

Some provisions against corrosion were made from the beginning of the PJ2T station, but many lessons have been learned over the years. Details of  the antenna rebuild project started in 2006 and completed in 2007 are online (including a photo album) at:  http://asgard.kent.edu/ccc/antenna.rebuild.project.home.htm . Any steel parts on antennas (element joints, boom joints) are wrapped with good-quality tape (Scotch 33+) and coated with "liquid tape" (see the bottom photo: of one of the towers at PJ2T. All those black spots on the elements are sealed as described).

Geoff  W0CG / PJ2DX calls himself the "PJ2T Maintenance Man".  Others who visit the station participate in maintenance projects when they are there.

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