[TowerTalk] Most Connectors sold to Hams are JUNK
Doug Renwick
ve5ra at sasktel.net
Sun May 25 22:44:58 EDT 2008
At Dayton 2008 the USA stamped silver/teflon PL-259s were selling
between $24.50 and $26.00 for 10. What a price increase in the last few
years when you could get these same connectors for about a buck each.
Other PL-259s were available at lower prices ... but generally you get
what you pay for.
Doug
The water jump is long and the barrier may be high,
you might break every bone, but it's so much fun to fly!
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: May 19, 2008 11:06 AM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Most Connectors sold to Hams are JUNK
On Mon, 19 May 2008 08:57:02 -0400, David Calder wrote:
>I used a cheap adapter with
>the "ring" in it and it just came apart when I tightened it.
Same here. I chased several intermittent connections in VHF and UHF
antennas to those junk adapters. Some fall apart, some heat up when
you put power to them, others simply open up but don't come apart. I
also had a UHF Tee connector come apart. it was part of a stacking
harness that I bought from PAR. They quickly replaced it.
I have learned the hard way that nearly all of the connectors sold
by vendors at hamfests are JUNK.
The same is true of the imitation DIN connectors sold by most ham
specialty vendors like RF Connection, which melt when you try to
solder to them and use a metal that doesn't take solder. Good ones
made by Switchcraft are still available from Newark and Allied, but
they cost $5-$7, not $1. But they work!
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