[Elecraft] K3 power cable

[Paul Christensen]

> You either crimp or Solder - not both

I crimp and solder.  But an explanation is in order:

I begin by crimping the PowerPole connector to the stranded wire.  When the 
crimp is complete, I then apply silver bearing solder ONLY to the very tip 
of the stranded wire where it butts up against the connector.  The wire in 
the area of the crimp has NO solder and this is important to ensure that 
wire stresses due to cable movement do not break the wire as if it was a 
solid-conductor.  So, it's the best of two worlds as flexibility at the 
crimp is maintained and I can be sure that long-term resistive loss is 
minimized by the small application of solder.  When using this method, it's 
critical that the stranded wire does not "wick" the solder up to the crimp 
point and that's another reason why I use silver bearing solder as it 
tendency to flow along the wire is impeded more so than with standard 
lead/tin solder.

Paul, W9AC