Netonix Forums

In the beginning ... Ubiquiti told us on many occasions ... In a plain Rocket install, with any Rocket Dish or Sector, the included pigtails with their sliding boots are expected to be water-tight, as is, no sealant needed. Many of us didn't trust that, so even I would roll strings of Coax-Seal around the ends of each boot once it was in place. The boots are nice and flexible when new, and do seem to hold up against UV just fine, but after a few years in sunny California climate, they dry out and lose some of their resilience. ...And eventually Ubiquiti started providing the tape for that in the antenna box.

But then came RFArmor.

We decided in our installations that when a Rocket is inside an RFArmor "Box":

1) We follow the "instructions" on the sector RFArmor and put horseshoe shaped beads of silicone (with the bottom open) between the antenna and various layers of aluminum, hopefully to keep the majority of water out of the box to begin with.

2) We align the coax to be straight coming out of the connector, snug up the connector, and then carefully slide the boot over it so its not stressed to one side. And then that's it, no additional sealant.

3) We no longer use the Ethernet door on the Rocket. They are not meant to be water-tight. Some are hard to remove, especially when they get old. We are always careful to use stainless wire ties on the cat5 to make sure there is no strain on the plug.

So I just figured I would ask here, what are the general feelings on this after a few years of experience? Especially you guys in tower-top hurricane land?

I never weatherize the jumpers as you said they are inside a box.

I'm in a semi-arid climate, I don't grease the plugs at all.

With the shield kits, the UBNT included rubber boots are enough. I know the shield kit instructions also recommends the bead of silicon but it is not needed either. No rocket failures, no chain failures. Less mess to deal with if anything does come up, although we still install the rocket door. I leave the bead off on purpose to get a little ventilation around the rocket. The way the aluminum overlaps and has slight lips where the radio box slides in I doubt if much water gets in anyways. And if it does it'll drain out the bottom. The kits, along with the RF improvements, also provide a nice UV and direct rain guard for the radios. There are just too many advantages of a shield kit on a regular rocket for us to purchase any of titanium line.
The only advantage the titanium line has is the gig port.