[Elecraft] Soldering PL-259's

[Jack Smith]

I stopped soldering connectors quite a few years ago and have gone to 
crimp connections. Properly done, a crimp connection will make a 
gas-tight seal and will be at least as reliable as a soldered 
connection. It takes a bit less time than soldering and you don't have 
to worry about melting the center conductor insulation (a real problem 
with RG-174). Plus, if you are out in the backyard, you don't have to 
run a long extension cord or use a butane-powered soldering iron to 
install a connector.

Some connectors I use, such as the bulkhead SMA female cablejacks that 
are part of the Z10000 buffer amplifier kit,  require soldering the 
center conductor, but the shield is crimped.

For PL259-style connectors, both the center pin and shell can be 
crimped, along with some BNCs and N connectors. Others are center-pin 
solder, shell crimp design.

In crimping the connector, it's critical that the tool used have the 
correct die dimension and that you have stripped the shell and center 
conductor to the manufacturer-specified length.

I did 150 crimp connections of rather small cable (some RG174 and some 
Teflon coax that makes RG174 look large) recently and had one bad 
connection, which was due to my error putting the connector into the 
wrong die in the crimping tool.

I paid about $100 for my ratcheting-type crimping tool and two extra die 
sets, but I see imported knock-offs with full die sets for a fraction of 
that price now.


Jack K8ZOA
www.cliftonlaboratories.com

>