Grumbling Aerial

[a_romeo_75491]

Greetings all,

My Celebration aerial has developed a grumble when extending and retracting. Before I start down a road I don't have a map for has anyone any thoughts on what I could try or shall I just buy another? Would it take lubrication or example and if so what kind?

Any contributions welcome.

[JimMann]

First thing is to thoroughly clean the aerial mast using something like CIF on a soft, damp cloth, support the mast whilst doing so, but ensure you remove any deposits from around the mast joints. Dry the mast and then take a small smear of grease on your fingers and gently coat the entire length of the mast, don't be excessive. Take a clean dry tissue / paper towel and wipe any excess grease from the mast sections. Now retract and extend the mast a few times to allow the grease to coat the inside of the telescopic sections.

You may now have to repeat the cleaning process as the grease will have brought other contaminants out from inside the sections.

Jim M

[PaulGover]

As Jim says, try cleaning. Avoid the temptation to use WD40 or other solvent-based lubricants - the seals on the aerial react to petrochemicals by swelling. The official way is to get Hirschmann (spelling may be suspect; they're the original maker providing your aerial is original, of course) aerial wipes, which I think use a silicon lubricant.

Assuming this doesn't work (in my experience likely ) the next step would be to remove the aerial and dismantle it. That's fiddly and involves removing the boot lining and dealing with nuts in awkward places that probably are rusty. What you typically find inside is a load of dirt that's penetrated past the seals, possibly blocked the drain holes, and probably causes corrosion to the various bits. If you're lucky it will all clean up and reassemble and work fine for some more years.

Replacements seem to be available at a more reasonable price than I remember, though looking at the picture on SNG Barratt's site, the inclusion of a bit of universal bracket (i.e. a strip of metal with holes in it) makes me wonder if it's an exact replacement or just a near miss that will require fettling. I've no experience of this product; perhaps other members can report. As mentioned above, removal and replacement isn't rocket science, but it suffers the usual gremlins of corrosion and the need for tiny fingers and a prehensile tail and maybe Special Tool #1 (aka a hammer).

[a_romeo_75491]

Thank you both for your suggestions.Very helpful.

Forum to the rescue again.

[ng4xjs]

Daft though it may sound - I've used products like "hypo-clean" and even electrical contact cleaner.

Nick