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Re: [TowerTalk] PL259 Insertion Loss?

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] PL259 Insertion Loss?
From: K8RI <K8RI-on-TowerTalk@tm.net>
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:37:47 -0500
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On 1/16/2012 12:48 PM, Frederick Vobbe wrote:
> On 1/16/2012 12:24 PM, Steve Hunt wrote:
>> Fred,
>>
>> If you had 0.3dB loss in a connector I doubt you or the guy at the other
>> end would hear the difference. But if you ran 1.5kW through it you'd
>> probably smell the difference!
>>
>> 100w is a lot of power to dissipate in such a small volume!
>>
>> 73,
>> Steve G3TXQ
> Never even considered running anything greater than 500 watts through a
> PL259, to be honest with you.

Any day over type N on HF.  Although the PL-259 will not do well at any 
where near the upper frequency limit of the type N, I found the legal 
limit through PL-259s works quite well. OTOH operating the entire 160 
and 75 meter bands produces very high SWR at the band edge(s)  where 
running the legal limit has blown out numerous N-type connectors. With 
the LMR-600 UHF clamp connectors I use an end mill to bore out the 
dielectric retainer ring and leave just enough to hold the dielectric.  
Are they ideal? No! but they are such a small bump the induced loss is 
insignificant at HF

BTW at least on lower HF the PL-259 will handle one whale of a lot more 
power than 1500 watts without ever getting warm or creating an impedance 
bump of significance. I need a larger dummy load to give them a real 
test. I'd also like to compare one of the modified LMR-600 clamp PL-259s 
to an unmodified one as well as a type N with a TDR.

Type N for relatively low power on UHF are fine, but in general I'd 
choose a DIN 7-16 for both power handling and constant impedance.  On HF 
my only real concerns are a good mechanical connection and the ability 
to handle the voltage at the legal limit with a very high SWR.

When ever possible I use crimp type connectors which give me much better 
consistency/repeatability between connections.

73

Roger (K8RI)



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