[Elecraft] RF Probe?

[W3FPR - Don Wilhelm]

Steve,

Solder carefully so you don't get solder in the threads.  Should some wick 
through, use a utility knife to cut the solder out of the threads.

There is an alternative - don't use the banana plugs at all!!!  If you have 
an old computer power supply laying around, try your DMM prods into the pins 
of one of the sockets that were used for the hard drive connections - if 
they have a nice fit (and most do), clip the red and black leads to a 
reasonable length and solder them onto the DMM end of the RG174.  Then stick 
your DMM probes into this socket and measure away.  In fact, you probably 
don't need RG174 at all (unless the probe is to be used in a really high RF 
field area) - that end is DC and will be quite accurate even without 
shielding, so solder about 5 inches of the wire from the computer PS cable 
directly to the RF probe board.  I find this easier than pulling the bananna 
jacks out of my DMM - just stick the prod tips into the socket.

73,
Don W3FPR

----- Original Message ----- 

I am at the point where the first check of the front and control panels 
check out OK and all seems good but I was wondering how others attached the 
minature coax to the banana plugs for the RF Probe construction.  It looks 
as if one would destroy the plug as the hole where I think you solder is 
awefully close to the threads of the plastic screw-on caps.  Thanks for the 
Help!!