If you want reliability in your station, you have to move up from the
"amateur" way of doing things.
1. Stop using Radio Shack "anything." Get your patch cables from your local
high-end stereo shop. Use the gold plated interconnect cables that the
tweakies use.
2. If you aren't an "excellent" solderer (I taught NASA soldering school for
12 years and still make an occasional poor connection) buy your coax cables
preassembled from Cable Xperts or the Wireman.
3. Talk your local club into investing in certified crimp tools for coax and
for terminal lugs. The tools are about $400 each, but they will make a
reliable crimp every time (AMP makes mil-grade crimp on PL259's, ideal for
outdoor repairs). Don't screw bare wires on to terminals, use lugs.
4. Shop carefully for coax adapters. Many of them are very poor quality and
fall apart with no warning. Be especially wary of male-male UHF and any Type-N
adapters.
5. Use external tooth lockwashers on any ground connections. Don't mix
metals. Stainless and zinc plated hardware don't get along very well.
6. Always refer to my introduction before you do anything. If you are taking
a shortcut, it will break during a contest! I've seen hams "get away with"
splicing coax with electrical wire nuts, but that practice will bite you in
the butt during a Europe run someday.
7. Spend a few bucks on your radio computer. Disc crashes are a bummer during
a contest. Also, the older hardware emits quite a bit of RFI compared to the
newer stuff. Make sure you use shielded cables from the computer to your TNC,
etc.
That's a start.
Tom, K5RC/7
aka K7GJ
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