[TowerTalk] RF Industries Connectors/Adapters

[Ken Alker]

At Santa Barbara Electronics Supply I have been selling RF Industries 
PL-259s for a decade (and my predecessors at the Santa Barbara based MarVac 
Dow Electronics for probably 50 years before that).  I've used RF 
Industries parts in my shack.  I don't have any empirical evidence of 
qualify, but I've never had any complaints.  I also sell Pan Pacific (no 
complaints there, either).

The ham operator looking for the best price buys Pan Pacific from me.  The 
ham operator looking for best quality buys RF Industries.  The RF 
Industries PL-259 I sell is the "501" (like the Jeans) which has a teflon 
dialectric and silver body, unlike what I can get from Pan Pacific.

My rep for the RF Industries parts has been in the industries since the 
60's (yep!) and is a ham as well, so I trust his opinion.  He sells 1000's 
of RF Industries connectors every year.  I still have the note I made when 
I first started buying from him, and I quote, "I suggest keeping a dozen 
501's around for the guy who wants the best and you sell him one of 
these... teflon dialectric and silver body... as good as can be for a 
PL259.  We carry Times connectors too, but realistically Times would be 
50%-100% more."  So, it seems Times was making connectors back then as 
well, and maybe they still do but I've never carried Times as RF Industries 
did the job for my ham customers.

My experience above is all about PL-259's coaxial connectors but I ASSuME 
we can extend this information to the N-female to PL-259 male adapters as 
well.  I *might* even have some in stock, but I'm not at the store this 
weekend (annual DX BBQ in Arroyo Grande today; I'm sure I'll see at least 
one of your there, Dick :-).

I hope this helps.

Ken Alker
KA6KEN

--On Saturday, June 8, 2024 4:13 AM -0600 Jim Rhodes <jimk0xu at gmail.com> 
wrote:

> I needed a product of their's a number of years ago and they said that
> they couldn't sell to me directly but to get in touch with The RF
> Connection and they could special order them for me. (I wanted to replace
> SO-239s with BNCs on some portable gear so I needed some with the same
> bolt pattern.) Never had any issues with them.  But The RFC might be
> someone to talk to as it seems they are or were a dealer.
>
> On Fri, Jun 7, 2024, 22:53 Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com> wrote:
>
>> I need to buy a few 2-3) coax adapters, N-female to PL-259 Male.
>> Amphenol parts seem to be close to unobtainium -- > $160 each in lots of
>> 7, delivery in 3 months. I see nothing in the surplus market. Don't want
>> junk. I see RF Industries parts listed in the $5 range. Any experience
>> with quality of their products?
>>
>> 73, Jim K9YC
>>
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