[TowerTalk] Station Ground

[Paul Playford]

-----Original Message-----
From: K8RI on Tower Talk [HYPERLINK mailto:k8ri-tower at charter.net
mailto:k8ri-tower at charter.net] 
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 1:33 AM
To: Paul Playford; 'Tom Rauch'; 'bob finger'
Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Station Ground

<snip>
>
> Is is my experience that it is not that a good PL-259 to coax 
> connection cannot be made, it is that the majority of amateur radio 
> operators don't want to make a good connection.
>
I cut jacket, braid, direlectric, and center connector to length. 

It's easier if you tin the braid before you cut it (with a copper tubing
cutter).  Plus you can drag the solder lumps along the braid to the end of
the cable, smooth the solder out, and then when you trim the braid the lumps
go away, no fileing required.  I will add you to my very short list of
connector assemblers that I should not try to jerk the connector off the
cable.  :)  Yes, the heated dialectric creates an impedance bump, but
PL-259's are not 50 ohms anyway.  Doesn't make any difference at HF and
above 50 MHz we should use 50 ohm N connectors. 

de Paul, W8AEF

Then thouroughly tin the braid. If need be I file any high points of solder
down so the PL259 can screw on. I then solder the barrell through each hole
to the tinned braid underneath.  They do not come apart, nor does the
dielectric melt. <:-))

Roger Halstead (K8RI, EN73 & ARRL Life Member) N833R, World's Oldest
Debonair (S# CD-2) HYPERLINK www.rogerhalstead.com www.rogerhalstead.com


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