Thanks Dennis, and everybody.
I stand corrected, all these years I thought I had the 3 meter one. I never measured it, it just seemed long. I measured it today and yup, about 6 feet.
Everyone with the ideas, I will try them, I get it, no abrasives.
I'll try cleaning it. If it doesn't work, Dennis, I'll email you. Wish I had anothe 10X probe end, I have another 6 meter cable but the compensator is fried due to me putting a 1X probe end on it. Hey, I was much younger then and with that box on the BNC end I figured the attenuator was in there. In fact I remember wondering what kind of insulation could withstand 1200 V P-P. And it did get that, well 1/10th because I frequently used it on the horizontal (line) output collector of TVs and monitors. With the old 422 having that 20V/div scale it was great. So now I know it was only about 100 volts on there, not 1,000.
Jeff Urban