[UK-CONTEST] Connectors

[Bob Henderson]

I have used silver plated, PTFE insulated PL259 plugs at HF for over 40
years.  I don't ever recall having a problem.

I don't waste time on the nickel plated version.  These were designed by a
man with a good sense of humour.

Bob, 5B4AGN

On 3 February 2012 12:19, Dave Sergeant <dave at davesergeant.com> wrote:

> Oh dear, all the years old arguments from the anti PL259 crowd are
> coming out again.
>
> Apart from the problems of soldering them, 259s are more than adequate
> at HF and even at 2m their impedance mismatch is peanuts. Years ago
> when I had access to decent test equipment I checked their performance
> against frequency and it was not until 900MHz that they became
> problematic. I would argue that it is far harder to properly assemble a
> BNC or N type unless you have the proper tools - and you certainly need
> the manufacturer's assembly instructions. Ready made up cables are of
> course readily available for patch leads, but sometimes those are of
> dubious quality.
>
> I have my own technique for PL259s, which is to poke a twisted bit of
> braid through one of the holes from the inside and solder it to the
> shell - a good iron set at 450C is adequate.
>
> My Elecraft K2 does have BNC outputs but that either feeds my longwire
> direct via a BNC-3mm adaptor or other antennas via an antenna switch
> (which has PL259s..). But there again I never venture higher than 10m.
>
> 73 Dave G3YMC
>
> On 3 Feb 2012 at 10:43, Ken Eastty wrote:
>
> > I agree, the best way to deal with ALL PL259's is to throw them in the
> > bin!
> >
>
>
> http://www.davesergeant.com
>
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