[Antennas] Splicing Coax

[Eric Lemmon]

Jan,

The short answer is:  Don't.  A longer answer is that a single length of
high-quality coax, with high-quality "N" connectors on each end, will outperform
and outlast any spliced coax with PL-259 connectors.  By high quality coax, I
mean 9913F as a minimum and LMR-400 or LDF2 Heliax preferred.  For N connectors,
I use only silver/gold RF industries crimp-on types, oversealed with 3M
self-vulcanizing rubber tape.  On long runs (over 75 feet), and for all UHF
systems, I use 1/2" or 7/8" Heliax with the appropriate connectors.

Sure, this stuff is definitely not cheap.  However, I came to realize a couple
of years ago that I would rather spend more time ON the radio, and less time
fixing antennas and feedlines.  I put cheap coax and connectors in the same
category as cheap tires- they don't last long, and they are prone to fail at
inconvenient times.  (Maybe I should stick to short answers!)

73, Eric Lemmon WB6FLY

Jan Reimers wrote:

> Any body have any tips/tricks for splicing coax (for example RG213 or RG8/U)
> rather than using connecters/unions?