[TowerTalk] PL-259 clamp style conn.

[Ian White GM3SEK]

K7KA wrote:
>Sorry.  Here is the correct link:
>
>http://www.hestonsupply.com/site/558895/product/1319671
>
These are not the best you can buy. They only clamp the cable by 
trapping the braid, and the braid can still tear out very easily. Also 
they require the braid to be trimmed and fanned out correctly.

The one that really works is the improved "pressure sleeve" clamp.
There is a drawing of the plug at:
http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/102683.pdf

Also there's  a nice photograph of the line jack at:
http://www.kabel-kusch.de/UHF-Stecker/pl-23tg.htm (thanks, Jos)

The key feature are:

* the big rubber pressure sleeve (not a thin wimpy washer)

* the "top hat" shaped metal ferrule.


1. To strip the cable for these connectors, you make just one deep flush 
cut, right through the jacket, braid and insulation, all the way to the 
center conductor. For the plug, the cut is about 5/8in back from the 
cable end; for the line jack, about 3/16in.

Pull off the jacket, braid and insulation complete. No stepped 
stripping, trimming or combing is required.

2. Slide the nut onto the cable, followed by a washer (if supplied) and 
then the thick rubber pressure sleeve.

3. Take the "top hat" shaped metal ferrule and push it onto the center 
insulation underneath the braid. Push the ferrule all the way in, so the 
circular flange sits right on the end of the jacket and braid.

4. If you're assembling a line jack, install the teflon washer and 
solder the center connector. (If it's plug, skip  this step.)

5. Slide the pressure sleeve forward until it sits right behind the 
flange of the ferrule. Insert the whole thing into the cable body and 
tighten the nut.

As you tighten down the nut, it compresses the sleeve so it grips the 
squeezes the jacket and braid >>inward<< onto the ferrule. The clamping 
action is strong enough that you can swing on the cable.

6. If you're assembling the plug, solder the center conductor.

Job done!

These are far and away the best "UHF" connectors I have ever found. The 
same design is also available as a line jack, and with a smaller body 
for RG58.

These connectors are quite common in Europe, and they should be 
available in the USA because the design rights have been owned by US 
firms for many years. (The original design came from a British company 
called Greenpar, which was sold to the US firm M-A/COM, and then gobbled 
up by Tyco.)

If anyone is prepared to spend the extra money for an improved type of 
UHF connector, then it's worth the effort to seek out this particular 
design.



-- 

73 from Ian GM3SEK         'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek