[bars] PL-259 crimping expert?

[Leandra MacLennan]

I’ve purchased PL-259/PL-259-RG-58 cable assemblies from DX Engineering (yes, I’ve been lazy) which use crimp connectors. They look rugged. I have not used them outdoors for an extended period. I did use these DX Engineering cables outdoors for two weekends for the 2018 and 2019 Sweepstakes contests and they worked fine. The cables were hanging, suspending their own weight, just from the PL-259 connector fastened to my off-center fed wire antennas. (For 2019 I got the antenna 30 feet in the air.) The cables still look brand-new.

-Leandra

On Jan 14, 2020, at 6:04 PM, Paul Pellegrini via bars <bars at w1hh.org<mailto:bars at w1hh.org>> wrote:


Andy –

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

Another thing about soldering rf connectors is that you need a really beefy soldering iron.  I have a Weller 250W gun for soldering the ground side of the PL259 connectors.  It works well.  My 100W Weller gun is not effective for the ground side.

I have 2 crimping tools.  One is for small diameter crimps such as RG58 and RG8X.  The second one for larger diameter RG213 and LMR400.  I got my tools from ebay a few years ago and can’t recall the manufacturer.   The connectors I buy have gold plated center conductors.  They are a bit more expensive.

I’d be interested in hearing from members about their experience with using crimp connectors outside in the weather.

73 de K1VK
Paul


On Tuesday, January 14, 2020, 01:54:29 PM EST, Andy Wallace <soldersmoke01 at gmail.com<mailto: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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