Ditto on the crimping of connectors.
I think it makes a better shield connection than the solder and hope method.
I tried to pull one off a waste piece of coax. Connector clamped in my
bench vise and two guys pulling on the coax.
Didn't budge. Try that with the soldered connector.
On 5/9/2016 6:07 PM, Jerry Gardner wrote:
On Mon, May 9, 2016 at 2:35 PM, Timothy A. Holmes <taholmes160@gmail.com>
wrote:
In addition to the recommendations from the previous e-mail about the best
brand / kind of PL259 connectors, I would also like to ask how is the best
way to attach them to the coax (including the different sizes of coax I am
likely to encounter)
I am trying to achieve a long lasting, water tight installation that I
wont have to mess with for many many years.
For a long time, I have soldered them, but i have around a 25% failure
rate, which could be due to my soldering skills, or to technique.
I have also read some about crimping on the connectors, which I have NO
experience, but if its better than soldering, I'm open to it, but I Really
need some instructions / links etc.
For many years now I've crimped connectors on coax rather than soldering
them. I've never had a failure in the many dozens I've done, including the
ones exposed to the weather.
To do it right, however, you need the proper crimp tool and dies that match
the connector. Coax prep tools also help as they make it easy to
consistently strip the coax to the right dimensions without nicking any of
the conductors.
The biggest win with crimping is that you don't need to heat the connector
shell and coax braid and risk melting the dielectric. Most of the poorly
soldered PL-259s I've seen are due to overheating (and melting the
dielectric) or underheating (resulting in cold joints). Crimping eliminates
both possibilities. IMO, most hams don't have the soldering skills
necessary to consistently solder a PL-259 properly.
Most industries (aerospace, military, medical, etc.) and organizations
(NASA) moved to crimp connectors decades ago.
Search the 'net -- there are links aplenty about crimping connectors onto
coax. Here's one I've found useful:
http://www.bcdxc.org/pl259_crimp_on_connectors.htm
73,
Jerry
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R. Kevin Stover
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FISTS #11993
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