[TowerTalk] Splicing rotator/control wires

[Phil Jung]

Steve,

Your comments on butt connectors are very timely. Any-old kind of butt
connector ain't the same.   Just completed an installation of
tower/beam/rotator, etc.  The rotator a Ham IV with the 9 pin (8 used) Amp
connector.  Since this connector is a pain to assemble, decided to use the
old one on a short leader of lighweight cable -  cut the cable, installed RS
butt connectors to an 8 pin trailer quick disconnect and then butt
connectors to the new HD (2 #16/ 6 #18)rotator control wires.  Thus giving
32 possibilities for connection failures.  You guessed it - worked fine on
the ground, but the stress of mounting the cable pulled some butt connectors
apart. A better crimping tool would have helped a bunch. Only the brake
release functioned.  Back up the tower and everything redone simply splicing
the wires and securing everything properly. Dumb, makes for a long day.

Getting older faster than getting smarter is painful.

73
Phil


----- Original Message -----
From: <UpTheTower at aol.com>
To: <SteppIR at yahoogroups.com>; <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 6:19 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Splicing rotator/control wires


> Howdy --
>
>     When I'm splicing non-RF cables - e.g. rotator  control cables,
SteppIR
> cables, etc. - I usually use good old crimp butt  connectors. I've used
> hundreds of them over the years and never had a problem.
>
>     Recently I had to repair a MonstIR that had spun in  an M2 Orion
rotator
> (another story) and ripped the coax and control cable. My  customer works
for
> the local telephone company and provided some AVAYA 709-SC  connectors.
> They're typically used with JKT telephone pairs but worked  fabulously
with the big
> SteppIR cable. You just push the non-stripped wires into  the end of the
> connector and squeeze it together with a pair of pliers. They're  clear so
you can
> see the wire pairs are connected correctly and that they're  pushed in far
> enough - you just about can't screw them up. They even have some  silicone
in
> them that squishes out when you seat them, providing a layer of  weather
proofing.
>
>     The connectors are for wire sizes 22 thru 26 gauge  and are great for
> rotator cable too. Google the product nomenclature and you'll  turn up a
couple
> of vendors.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve     K7LXC
> TOWER TECH -
> Professional tower services for  hams
>
>
>
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http://www.aol.com.
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