There are Type N (and others) connectors made for wide temperature swings
that have the center contact captured. Among others, W.L. Gore makes them
(although I don't know if they sell the connectors, or just use them on
their own cable assemblies). Peter's comment just goes to show that you
have to pay attention to ALL the specs on the data sheet. (Those of you
running laptops in your cars and having problems with failures.. have you
ever looked at the max operating temp spec...They're usually something like
30C)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Sundberg" <sm2cew@telia.com>
To: <TexasRF@aol.com>
Cc: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 10:53 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] N connectors
> I have done away with N-connectors in my VHF EME array as they are failing
> during cold winter days. The problem is that at low temperatures (I live
at
> 65.4N...) the center conductor of the coax gets shorter and the center pin
> of the N-male is pulled out of the socket hence making poor contact. A
> split second of 2kw RF vaporizes the center pin..
> After having multiple failures during cold winters I now use PL259/SO239
of
> good quality at the relay and as for the driven elements and powerdividers
> I have soldered the coax direct and done away with connectors.
>
> I dont think these problems will occur in places where the temperature
> swing is somewhat less than -40C -> +35C....
>
> 73/Peter SM2CEW
> www.qsl.net/sm2cew
>
>
>
>
> At 15:04 2003-09-05 , you wrote:
> >It is well known among vhf/uhf operators that N connectors will survive
> twice
> >legal power through 432mhz with reasonable vswr. Even at 1296mhz they
> survive
> >full legal power with low vswr.
> >
> >As others have mentioned, they will fail at any frequency under fault
> >conditions. Heck, I even managed to smoke a 7-16 Din connector when the
> shield let
> >loose on a 1296mhz PA output connection. The screen trip circuit would
have
> >saved it if I had realized that the fault was external to the PA . You
> live and
> >(hopefully) you learn!
> >
> >73/k5gw
> >_______________________________________________
> >
> >See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
any
> questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >TowerTalk mailing list
> >TowerTalk@contesting.com
> >http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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