[TowerTalk] Long Term Connector Reliability

[Jim Brown]

On 7/23/2022 11:09 AM, Al Kozakiewicz wrote:
> The only caveat with N connectors is if you are running power into a load that is not mostly resistive. If you have a non-resonant or partially resonant antenna like an 80M dipole that you are using a tuner to get a match over the entire 500kHz of the band, you can have voltages along the feedline that exceed the ratings for N. UHF connectors fare somewhat better in this situation.

Those who consider N-connectors superior solely because they are 
controlled impedance fail to understand the fundamentals of transmission 
lines. Below UHF, the small impedance bump from PL259s and a barrel 
doesn't matter in real systems.

Maybe ten years ago, I built more than 1,000 ft of cables in 100 ft 
lengths for a DX trip using Amphenol 83-1SP connectors. When I spliced 
them together with Amphenol barrels and measured the loss using HP 
generator and spectrum analyzer, it was less than the spec for the cable 
to at least 100 MHz.

73, Jim K9YC