Topband: Conductivity of stainless steel hardware

[Richard Karlquist]

On 2014-01-26 06:54, Charles Stackhouse wrote:

> A very tech savvy friend (microwaves, public safety radio) says this
> is no good. Due to the poor
> conductivity of stainless steel, RF connections should not be through

> Charlie, W2GN

If your friend was really savvy about public safety radio, he
would know that repeater sites ban any connectors containing
magnetic metals such as nickel, which is used in stainless steel.
This is because they cause "passive intermodulation" PIM, producing
cross talk between radios at the site.  Probably not a concern
for HF ham radio, but a big deal if you want to put a ham repeater
at a commercial site.

Rick N6RK