[TowerTalk] Some advice about crimp ;type coax connectors

[Gary J - N5BAA]

I crimp all my coax connectors now too, and horrors upon horrors made the 
jump from UHF Pl-259's to Crimp N connectors at the same time.  I made the 
change to N connectors because I was buying new crimp connectors anyway and 
it made sense to change to the much better connector at the same time.  The 
next time I am inside my Elecraft K3 and P3 I will change out the SO-239's 
for female N connectors, and until then I just use adaptors.  I must admit I 
am probably not a "Real Ham Operator" since I am not a good solderer.  I can 
manage to solder the N pins though.  I say all the above with trepidation 
though, as recently on our club reflector I started a UHF vs N and solder vs 
crimp war that has resulted in one of our club members resigning his 
membership.  Being a 3 year ham, I had no idea that the opinions on 
connectors ran so deep.

Is there a source for just the crimping dies for Power Poles that might fit 
in my crimpers??  My crimpers came from below - they are the same as 90% of 
the crimpers out there and buying here gets you two crimper pliers vs one 
crimper and two sets of dies.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KNC6E4G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Gary J
N5BAA

-----Original Message----- 
From: Bill Turner
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2014 8:55 PM
To: Towertalk
Subject: [TowerTalk] Some advice about crimp ;type coax connectors

I haven't seen this discussed before so I thought I'd throw in my 2
cents. Might help someone.

I love crimp type coax connectors. Done right, they are faster and
more reliable than solder type. I will never go back.

First, there are two types of crimp connectors. They both are designed
to have the braid crimped, but some of them are designed to have the
center pin soldered. Do not mix up the two kinds. The solder type has
a small cutout for the solder like PL-259's have had forever. The
crimp type has a round pin with no cutout. DO NOT try to crimp the
solder type and do not try to solder the crimp type. It won't hold.
Don't ask how I know. :-)

Always crimp or solder the pin first and then give it a good pull
before you crimp the braid. It should not pull out, obviously. How
much pull? I don't know exactly, but i think it should withstand at
least ten pounds or so. More is better.

In order to get a god crimp on the braid of the coax, all the braid
wires must all be intact. In other words, if you nick a few strands
and remove them, the crimp will not be as tight as it should be.
Do it over.

In order to get a really tight crimp, I like to put a single wrap of
electrical tape over the braid first. The ferrule is not part of the
electrical connection, so don't worry about that. it's only purpose it
to press the braid tightly to the connector. The tape just enlarges
the diameter and increases the pressure applied by the ferrule. You
could instead use heat shrink tubing of the appropriate size.

I highly recommend using a coax cutting tool, the kind that makes two
cuts at once - one down to the center conductor and one down to the
braid. It is well worth your time to get the depth of cur just right.
These cutters are adjustable so practice on a piece of coax and figure
wasting a foot or two until you have the cut perfect. You will be well
rewarded in the long run.

I learned all this the hard way. Hope this saves someone some grief.
Comments welcome.

73, Bill W6WRT
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