[bars] PL-259 crimping expert?

[Paul Pellegrini]

Andy –

I’ve gone exclusively to crimp connections but only for insidethe house coax runs.  I still use solderedconnections outside because of reliability concerns in our New England weather.  Soldering a connection is much more timeconsuming and has a chance of not making a good electrical contact.  I always test soldered connections with anohm meter to make sure there is dc continuity. I also like to test with rf.  I dothat by putting a dummy load on one end and then applying reasonable rf on theother end (usually 10W).

Another thing about soldering rf connectors is that you needa really beefy soldering iron.  I have a Weller250W gun for soldering the ground side of the PL259 connectors.  It works well.  My 100W Weller gun is not effective for theground side.

I have 2 crimping tools. One is for small diameter crimps such as RG58 and RG8X.  The second one for larger diameter RG213 andLMR400.  I got my tools from ebay a fewyears ago and can’t recall the manufacturer.   The connectors I buy have gold plated centerconductors.  They are a bit more expensive.
I’d be interested in hearing from members about their experiencewith using crimp connectors outside in the weather.
73 de K1VKPaul

    On Tuesday, January 14, 2020, 01:54:29 PM EST, Andy Wallace <soldersmoke01 at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 I am wondering who in our club is an expert at coax terminations. I have somdered cables up till now but perhaps crimping technology has gotten better. 

Who has found good reliability with crimps? Are they OK for outdoors? How about connector sources (name brand is best?) and crimping kits (I see HRO has a kit of tools for $90)?

I presume there are other crimp connections (BNC, N) which also apply. 

This might even be a good blurb for our newsletter (hint) but right know I would like to know if I can save time making jumpers around the shack.

Thanks in advance,
Andy
KA1GTT


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