After many years of struggling with soldering into little holes on lousy
connectors, I gradually started migrating to N connectors. They are less
lossy, generally waterproof and mate more reliably than UHF connectors.
Unfortunately, ham equipment suppliers continue to churn out high-power
equipment with UHF connectors, for reasons that I cannot understand.
However, the reason for this message: I recently (a year ago) took the
plunge and invested in a crimping tool. I should have done it two decades
ago! The connectors take a lot less time, are more reliable and look
better. I can generally install a UHF or N connector, male or female, in
under four minutes on RG213-type cable; even when dangling from the tower.
The connectors are priced similarly to solder-on types and are freely
available from professional communications sources in this country. I can
only imagine they must be similarly easy to find in Merica.
If you really insist on soldering connectors, you absolutely must invest in
a Portasol butane-powered soldering iron. It produces about 175 W of heat,
enough to solder any connector (at least ones that amateurs would use). I
have not found another torch in the same league. It is sufficiently
powerful to heat the casing if required, so that you can get good flow and
good mating with the braid.
Chris R. Burger
ZS6EZ
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