use a little penetroxon the wire before crimping.
----- Original Message -----
From: "jimlux" <jimlux@earthlink.net>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] connecting radial wires
> On 1/12/11 1:26 PM, K2VI wrote:
>> hello to all on TT. Im waiting for this weather to become more seasonable
>> for commencing this vertical antenna project. Anyway in regard to the
>> radial plate installation i decided to go with the prefab Dx engineering
>> stainless steel plate. Im curious if the stainless steel will conduct the
>> Rf to the copper radials or will there be any loss. question # 2 is
>> connecting the wires to the plate, Ive seen most solder lugs then
>> slipping over the bolts. Can i simply tin the wire and wrap it directly
>> around the bolt, use never seize and tighten it down then paint it with
>> scotchkote? It just seems to be a long daunting job of soldering 55+ lugs
>> if not necessary. Thanks in advance guys. 73
>>
>
> You could do that.
>
> I'd crimp the lugs onto the wires. faster, more reliable (a good
> crimper makes a gas tight seal between wire and lug), etc. You could
> crimp on 60 lugs a few minutes (assuming your hand doesn't give out).
>
>
> Wrapping the wire around the screw sort of works, but you need the right
> kind of screw head (with the flat bottom and corrugations to bite into
> the wire). I always find that the wire squishes out from under the
> screw head, unless there's something holding it in place (on a AC
> receptacle or switch, there's ridges to hold the wire. Screws on wire
> also inevitably loosen up with temperature cycling, unless you use some
> sort of threadlocker (I guess the scotchkote would do that..)
>
> Crimping a flat ring lug seems awfully easy.
>
> The other approach is to gather all 50-60 wires together (assuming they
> are bare) into a bundle, and then silver solder it into a solid mass.
> You might even be able to adapt a thermite (CadWeld) to basically weld it
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