At 08:59 PM 12/4/2007, STeve Andre' wrote:
On Wednesday 05 December 2007 00:53:08 Rick Mann wrote:
On Dec 4, 2007, at 9:42 PM, kc6uqh wrote:
Before you give up I suggest you buy the silver plated PL-259' s If you can't find them, then with a pocket knife or small file remove the nickel plating, use a good grade of rosin flux 37% Pb 63%Sn solder. THe aluminum will not solder but the braid is tin plated copper. You need a 250 Watt soldering gun or 100Watt iron Heat the first hole add solder then the second etc after the third hole you will notice the connector is hot enough for the solder to wick into the holes.
Thanks, but I've already spent a small fortune in additional tools to do this. I'm done. I just want to buy well-made cables.
Well, I can't think of a better place than the RF Connection, in Maryland. Ask for Joel, and during the conversation mention "crabs". He'll be very puzzled that you said that. ;-) (we've met him in MD for maryland blue crabs).
--STeve Andre' wb8wsf en82
One reason to use N-connectors is that they assemble with the 9913 and LMR-400 foil shielded cables without need for soldering. Either the traditional compression-clamp style or crimp style do not require soldering the shield. The benefit is a better designed RF connector will less impedance "bump". Of course there still is a lot of radio equipment that uses the SO-239 receptacle. In those cases one can make up a jumper cable with RG-58 or RG-8 (RG-213) cable, if you find assembly of PL-259 on 9913 or LMR-400 is too big a hassle.
I will say that not all PL-259 are equal. I only use Amphenol PL-259 at work as they are silver plated and solder much better. Use of alcohol to de-grease metal parts before soldering, use of rosin flux, and sufficient heat all help a lot for less frustrating assembly of PL-259's. A fellow technician of mine used to use a round file to file across the solder holes to thin the metal for better soldering (that works).
I would also say that not all coax is of equal quality. The cheap stuff has too little shield density. I use that stuff to make ground radials.
...anyway that's my two-cents on the subject!
73, Ed - KL7UW ====================================== BP40IQ 50-MHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com 144-EME: FT-847, mgf-1801, 4x-xpol-20, 185w DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubususa@hotmail.com ======================================