[HCARC] Crimped vs Soldered Coax Connectors??

Tue Sep 23 21:43:36 EDT 2014

The definitive test is this.
Six years I spent out to sea in conditions that would destroy any
connectors.
Six years we ran with soldered pl 259's that were taped and copper coated
outside.
Six years we did PMS tests (Preventative Maintenance Systems) using Bird
Wattmeters.

Not one failure.

The problem is not the connector, although I will concede that those
manufactured in china are cheap ????

It's like everything else we do in life.
Do it right and you won't regret it.
Take a shortcut, and you will regret it.

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary J - N5BAA [mailto:qltfnish at omniglobal.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 8:39 PM
To: Virgil Bierschwale
Cc: John K5XA; Derrell K. Spencer; hcarc at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [HCARC] Crimped vs Soldered Coax Connectors??

If you can solder, or if you build your radio as in the Elecraft K3, or if
you were to order one of the Flex radios, I am sure they can be specified to
come with N connectors - not sure about the others, but I bet many come with
either if one cared to specify.  But it's not just at the radio, in the case
of the tower you have a Pl-259 connected to an SO-239 at the antenna, two at
the bottom of the tower going through an Alpha-Delta TT3G50 surge suppressor
on the tower ground, through another at the antenna switch input and another
at the other side of the switch heading to the shack, then through 2 more at
another TT3G50 at the ground outside of the shack and then two at the tuner
and then one to the radio.  That's a lot of 37 ohm connectors. Does it make
a difference??  Some say yes, some say no.  To me it falls along the same
vein as why put up a tower with a good beam antenna to preserve or capture
all those pesky DB's (don't say it Kerry - I know you want too - personal
joke between us!!) and then kill a bunch of them by using cheap coax to
carry the signal to the shack, only to power up the Amp to try to get a
bunch of them back.

This has seemingly morphed into N vs PL-259.  Question still remains as to
whether crimp technology is good enough to coexist more or less equally with
soldering (which in my book is supremely dependent on the solderer's skill).

Crimp on PL-259's are available, but why would you crimp one of them vs an
N???  I wonder how one could design a definitive test??

Gary J
N5BAA

-----Original Message-----
From: Virgil Bierschwale
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 7:08 PM
To: Gary J - N5BAA
Cc: John K5XA ; Derrell K. Spencer ; <hcarc at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [HCARC] Crimped vs Soldered Coax Connectors??

Smallest denominator

You can run hundred n connectors and you will still need a 259 to connect to
radio

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 23, 2014, at 6:59 PM, Gary J - N5BAA <qltfnish at omniglobal.net>
> wrote:
>
> But John - guys like Kerry and Eddie the Weather guy, and I am sure 
> more will tell you/me that Amphenol or not, PL-259's are a far 
> inferior coupler to an N connector.  Not only are they not waterproof, 
> they are 37 ohm vs
> 50 ohm for the N connector (why put a 32 ohm connector - really a 
> number of them into a 50 ohm coax run that we have worked so hard to 
> ensure stays
> 50 ohms).  Much of what I am trying to get at here is for the new Ham 
> (you know the Techs and new Generals - come on Tony Moore pass that 
> Gen test on
> Sat,!!!) why shouldn't they start out using N connectors??  They have 
> to invest in something and many will tell you the N connector is a 
> better initial investment.  What I am hoping to do here is run a 
> dialog on what is best vs what I/we have always done.  I used to have 
> a sign on my desk in the Navy that answered for Junior Officers and 
> even worse Junior Officers with their Chief Petty Officers in tow that 
> said "Just because we have always done something a certain way, 
> doesn't mean we haven't been doing it wrong all along - BE FLEXIBLE, 
> LEARN!!".  I am just trying to learn - to be flexible - I am still so 
> new that I have junior enlisted vs Commander Department Head level
knowledge.
>
> Might also be interesting to see what the Texas Army MARS guys are 
> doing with their equipment.
>
> And furthermore, the Reflector has been too darn quiet for far too 
> long - lately it's beginning to be sound like 2 meters or 70 cm in 
> Kerrville.  We need some controversy - stir things up a bit - that's my
motto!!
>
> Gary J
> N5BAA
>
> -----Original Message----- From: John K5XA
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 2:04 PM
> To: 'Virgil Bierschwale' ; 'Gary J - N5BAA' ; 'Derrell K. Spencer' ; 
> hcarc at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: RE: [HCARC] Crimped vs Soldered Coax Connectors??
>
> I solder all my connectors, and use UHF PL-259, but only Amphenol 83-1SP.
>
> A long, long time ago when I first got started, I was using cheapie 
> hamfest connectors. It didn't take long to see the error in my ways, 
> especially when it involved connectors on the tower.
>
> Do yourself a big favor and spend the extra bucks.
>
> K5XA John Guida
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HCARC [mailto:hcarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Virgil 
> Bierschwale
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 8:20 PM
> To: 'Gary J - N5BAA'; 'Derrell K. Spencer'; hcarc at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [HCARC] Crimped vs Soldered Coax Connectors??
>
> Navy radioman here 76 - 82
> We soldered everything, and if it was in the weather, we taped it, and 
> copper coated it
>
> Never had a bad connection that way
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HCARC [mailto:hcarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Gary J 
> - N5BAA
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 6:50 PM
> To: Derrell K. Spencer; hcarc at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [HCARC] Crimped vs Soldered Coax Connectors??
>
> Derrell,
>
> I too am retired Navy (CDR, SC, USN-ret) and ran a number of Aviation 
> Supply Activities in the 80's and 90's.  That however, is (Heaven 
> Forbid) 20-30 years ago and some procedures may have changed.  I 
> understand the Air Force has and I can easily check at NAS Corpus with 
> the Supply Response Section
> (SRS) to see if the Navy has too.  I am assuming NAS Corpus has an IMA 
> level maintenance facility for the training aircraft.  Might be 
> interesting to find out.
>
> Gary J
> N5BAA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Derrell K. Spencer
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 6:26 PM
> To: hcarc at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [HCARC] Crimped vs Soldered Coax Connectors??
>
> I taught aviation micro miniature (2M) circuit board repair 
> certification in the Navy back in the late eighties. The miniature 
> course was five weeks long and the micro was three weeks. The 
> miniature curriculum was mostly high reliability soldering along with 
> circuit board repair. The micro repair was very specialized with high 
> power, stereo microscopes.  The Navy's avionics have to "take a 
> licking and keep on ticking" as John Cameron Swayze used.
> Our aircraft  get shot off  the deck and hit hard when landing. 
> Soldering connectors is more reliable than crimping when done 
> properly. Crimping by definition is deforming.
>
>
> Derrell K. Spencer ATCS(AW) USN, Ret
> KG5BTT
> In God We Trust, All Others We Monitor 
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