[Elecraft] Antenna Question

[Vic Rosenthal 4X6GP]

SOME 'junk' PL259s are fine. If there are problems with the threads you 
will know right away. I have had some that are plated with something 
that won't take solder, or which have plastic insulation that melts when 
you solder the center pin. But again, you will know this right away.

SO239s and barrels may have contact tension problems that take awhile to 
manifest themselves. And elbows and Ts can have internal issues (like 
the famous elbows with little springs to join the two parts). For these, 
only Amphenol or mil-spec will do.

Having said all this, just before I moved here, I ordered a bunch of 
Amphenol connectors, including the PL259s.

73,
Vic, 4X6GP
Rehovot, Israel
Formerly K2VCO
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/

On 11 Oct 2016 11:38, Jim Brown wrote:
> On Mon,10/10/2016 4:49 PM, Josh Fiden wrote:
>> If you're concerned about the additional loss of a barrel connector at
>> 50MHz, you should be using feedline with lower loss than LMR400 up the
>> tower.
>
> The loss in GOOD quality UHF connectors and barrels at 50 MHz is
> negligible. There are urban legends (false, as usual) claiming that
> every connector loses a dB. The grain of truth is that JUNK connectors
> may introduce significant loss, but GOOD connectors and barrels do NOT.
> "Good" means Amphenol 83-1SP for the PL-259s, and Amphenol or surplus
> MIL-spec for the barrels.
>
> Several years ago, I made up more than a dozen 100 ft cables using a
> cable of somewhat better construction than LMR400 (Commscope 3227) for a
> DX trip. The connectors were Amphenol 83-1SP that I soldered myself. To
> test those cables, I spliced them together using Amphenol barrels and
> measured the loss of about 1300 ft of cable up to 500 MHz using HP
> generator and spectrum analyzer. The measured loss was LESS than the
> manufacturer's spec. There were 27 83-1SPs and 13 barrels in line.
>
> JUNK connectors are the shiny,unbranded stuff you see at ham flea
> markets, and sold online and in ham magazines.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC