Tell your grad student friend to go look at the tables again. Silver is
more conductive, both electrically and thermally, in every textbook of
metallurgy and materials on the planet. -WB2WIK/6
"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of
enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ken Cechura [SMTP:kcechura@umr.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 10:42 AM
> To: Steve Katz
> Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Coax cables
>
> Not to be a smart @$$.... But I think Gold is more conductive both
> electrically and thermally.... At least that's what I was told by a
> metallurgy grad student....
>
> Though Silver plated PL259s do work much better than the cheaper ones.
>
> 73
> Ken, KC9UMR
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Steve Katz
> Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 9:55 AM
> To: 'brewerj@squared.com'; towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: RE: [TowerTalk] Coax cables
>
>
> Hey John (K5MO),
>
> I sure don't recommend filing PL-259 bodies to expose base metal brass.
> This should never, ever be necessary if you use good quality PL-259's
> such as Amphenol 83-1SP (silver-plated connector body, silver takes
> solder faster and more efficiently than brass ever could) or the "silver
> plated Teflon" connectors made by J&I (usually just stamped "Made in
> U.S.A." with no other
> identification) and sold by H.R.O., Cable XPerts and many other outlets.
> Silver is the most conductive metal on the planet (both electrically and
> thermally) and the plating allows solder to flow very quickly without
> scrubbing.
>
> It sounds to me like you're using the Amphenol "Astro Plate" (or
> equivalent) connectors with the very bright, shiny finish. Those
> weather very well but are very difficult to solder to using conventional
> soldering equipment. I'd toss those and get silver-plated connectors,
> which solder very quickly and easily without any rework.
>
> WB2WIK/6
>
> "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of
> enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: brewerj@squared.com [SMTP:brewerj@squared.com]
> > Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 6:02 AM
> > To: towertalk@contesting.com
> > Subject: [TowerTalk] Coax cables
> >
> > Heat is the key. I bought a mondo iron (the tip is about as big around
>
> > as a little finger) for $1 at a garage sale. It works perfectly and
> > takes forever to warm up. It also takes forever to cool down, which is
>
> > what your're looking for!
> >
> > Some other tips:
> >
> > 1) lightly tin the braid.
> >
> > 2) File with a halfround file, the area around
> > the opening for the solder, to expose
> > the base metal (hopefully, brass!)
> >
> > 3) Pre tin this area as well.
> >
> >
> > If I can find one more cheapie iron, I'm going to file the tip into a
> > concave form to match the contour of the PL259 shell. Heat transfer
> > should be enhanced even more, in what will then be a dedicated cable
> > ass'y iron.
> >
> > 73
> > John K5MO
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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