When it comes to cutting the center conductor of 8X, or any of the RG
series including LMR 400 and 600, I use a pair of contoured, flush
cutting side cutters.they are just large enough to fit over the jacket
of LMR-400, with work". Still, I find that the fine wires of the 8X
cable are so easily displaced, that I've made it a standard practice to
roll the small center conductor between my thumb and fore finger with a
slight pulling motion. This tightens those fine wires into as small a
"round" shape as possible, but as Gerald said, "It's still a tight fit.
The crimp connectors appear to have the tip of the center pin swedged
down to where the 8X center conductor just fits. If I even bump the end
of the center conductor, it's back to the thumb and fore finger operation.
With larger cables with a solid center conductor, I usually make
several small cuts around the center conductor with increasing pressure,
even with flush cutters. This results in very little deformation of the
conductor being cut.
As for the phone call, it sounds like you managed to get hold of someone
having a very bad day, or had just gotten off the phone with a difficult
customer. In those cases it's better to just let the answering machine
cause a delay, rather than putting my frustrations on the person calling.
That person's attitude, is not one I've ever heard when calling DX
Engineering and certainly not typical of any company that I've dealt
with as a ham, or professionally.
As for coax, I usually deal with Davis, but have used just about all the
major coax dealers.
73 and good luck,
Roger (K8RI)
On 9/6/2015 9:29 AM, TexasRF--- via TowerTalk wrote:
Hi Thomas, I have seen your RG8X/connector issue on occasion. Generally,
the cause is the center conductor is deformed when the cable is cut. The fit
is very tight as you mentioned and it takes very little deformation of the
center conductor to prevent insertion into the center pin.
There are cutters available that cut cleanly, making it much easier.
Typically many users will use diagonal cutters and they work by mashing the
cable fibers enough sever them. Close inspection will show the flattened strand
ends.
Sometimes you can sort of reshape the center conductor with long nose
pliers and clean up the center conductor o.d. with a small file or Dremel tool.
A Dremel tool also will cut the center conductor cleanly without smashing
the fibers.
This same problem can also happen with Buryflex, LMR400 and 9913F7 cables
and PL259 connectors due to slightly larger center conductor.
Hope this helps.
73,
Gerald K5GW
GM Texas Towers
<snip>
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