Bob Miller wrote:

As Doc said, solder.

Get a Weller SP-120 soldering iron. It's 120 watts. About $46. You can
typically find it by Googling.


Thanks for the suggestion on the iron, I found it for $40 which isn't
too bad.

You'll need that kind of heat to solder coax connector outer shells to
the braid. Get the ARRL Handbook, and look at their pages on soldering
coax connectors.


I guess the book you are talking about isn't the antenna book, I can't
find much on soldering in there.

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

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Luke wrote:

hi Chris,

Welmcome to ham radio, I am sure you will enjoy it
as much as the rest of us have !

Since you are starting out, to solder you just need
the iron, 100-120 watts with chisel tip is just fine,
don't attempt with the lower wattage units, you end
up damaging the coax dielectric and have more problems.

Crimps have their place, but, you will need to buy or
borrow the crimp frame tool along with the correct
dies for the connectors you want to crimp.
This is a lot more expensive then the solder iron.

Be sure to buy and use name brand connectors,
quality is worth the price, you buy it once.
You can get a bag of the cheap ones to practice
with and then use the good Amphenol or other brands.

http://www.amphenolrf.com/products/a...ctions/274.pdf


Actually I plan on going out of my way to avoid UHF connectors. I plan
on doing a fair amount at 400+ mhz and the UHF connectors don't do well
up there. So about the only place I will be using UHF is at the radio
if I can't find a radio with N connectors. My watt meter has N
connectors and so do my antennas. I'm not sure why anyone would want to
use UHF on anything outside. The only way to protect a UHF from the
weather is with some coax wrap but the N has a seal built in, of course
some kind of wrap as additional protection isn't a bad idea either if it
is done right. In some cases I may even replace the UHF connector in
the radio with an N but only if it is an old radio no longer under warranty.


--
Chris W
KE5GIX

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Ed wrote:

Crimp connectors work just fine when done properly, but I would not use
them on anything above 2M.

Then why is it that Times Microwave only shows how to put on crimp and
clamp connectors on their cables on their web site. On their larger
cables (LMR 900 and up) they only have clamp connectors.


You will find the compression type fittings
for larger coax and heliax superior to anything else for microwave work.


Like I already mentioned, I think that is all you can put on the LMR 900
and up size coax.

But most will probably suggest generally a good soldered connector the
best for most apps.

If you have the money, the best iron for soldering coax connectors
would be one such as made by American Beauty..... but very pricey.


I found an 150 watt one for $115, that doesn't seem too bad to me if it
is that much better than others.

http://www.hmcelectronics.com/cgi-bi...duct/0400-0027

One thing I forgot to mention in my first post, where you have to use a
UHF, it seems that for LMR 400, the only option is solder, I could be
looking in the wrong places, but I haven't seen any crimp or clamp on
UHF connectors for LMR 400 only solder. About the only time I plan on
using anything smaller than LMR 400 is for a jumper to hook my hand held
to the big antenna, for that I am going to get some LMR 240 ultra flex.

--
Chris W
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Chuck S. wrote:

Clamp types have cause me problems over the years, stay away from them.
Crimp type work ok in the shack but not out side for a long time.

If you are going to crimp and use it outside you certainly need to use
some good adhesive lined shrink tube to seal it up. I'm curious why no
one seems to like crimp. Other than the cost of the tools to do it
right it seems like a much easier way to go. Crimping works great for
other types of connections. Also I did a lot of browsing on Times
Microwave's web site and about all they talk about are crimp and clamp
on connectors, for the big cables it is clamp only, I think part of the
reason for that is you would probably need a hydraulic crimping tool for
those big cables

Solder it
by far the best way to go. Another type that works good outside is
compression clamps. The ones meant to be used with hard line. They cost
more, but unless you like climbing up a 60 foot tower in a contest, they are worth the cost!



I like those, the only connectors I have put on so far is a solder/clamp
N and a solder UHF, the N was a solder on pin, which was pretty easy and
then the clamp on outer shell. The only hard part was getting the cable
striped cleanly but a good coax stripper should fix that. That is the
next thing I plan on buying, I just need to find a good one.

--
Chris W
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I forgot to bring up resistive soldering, does any one use one of
those? I guess if I get a big iron that will work good. I used a 140
watt gun for the UHF connector I did first, I hear the big irons work
better because of the larger thermal mass, I may try the heat gun trick
too. I have a small heat gun that will get up to 200 and something F or so.

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

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One thing I should have said was that I use ONLY "N" connectors from 144 to
1296. I read, maybe in this group, that UHF connectors are ok to 500MHz.
Like I said, I don't use them above 144MHz. and I know some hams that don't
use UHF connectors on 6 meter. Above 2304 I use SMA's and WG on 24GHz. I'm
getting off track, solder is the best way to go for UHF, or use whatever "N"
connector Time recommends for their cables.


"Chris W" wrote in message
news:tvZqf.41428$ih5.4963@dukeread11...
Chuck S. wrote:

Clamp types have cause me problems over the years, stay away from them.
Crimp type work ok in the shack but not out side for a long time.
If you are going to crimp and use it outside you certainly need to use
some good adhesive lined shrink tube to seal it up. I'm curious why no
one seems to like crimp. Other than the cost of the tools to do it right
it seems like a much easier way to go. Crimping works great for other
types of connections. Also I did a lot of browsing on Times Microwave's
web site and about all they talk about are crimp and clamp on connectors,
for the big cables it is clamp only, I think part of the reason for that
is you would probably need a hydraulic crimping tool for those big cables


Solder it by far the best way to go. Another type that works good outside
is compression clamps. The ones meant to be used with hard line. They cost
more, but unless you like climbing up a 60 foot tower in a contest, they
are worth the cost!


I like those, the only connectors I have put on so far is a solder/clamp N
and a solder UHF, the N was a solder on pin, which was pretty easy and
then the clamp on outer shell. The only hard part was getting the cable
striped cleanly but a good coax stripper should fix that. That is the
next thing I plan on buying, I just need to find a good one.

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

Gift Giving Made Easy
Get the gifts you want & give the gifts they want
One stop wish list for any gift, from anywhere, for any occasion!
http://thewishzone.com

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 12:14:19 -0500, "Tam/WB2TT"
wrote:

A ~200W soldering gun from Radio Shack or Home Depot will also work fine.

Tam/WB2TT


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's my preference too. Weller makes a 250 watt gun that works great
for PL-259s. Heats up in a few seconds, unlike an iron, and cools down
quickly. Be sure you get the 250 watt version, not the 125 watt.

73, Bill W6WRT

Crimp connectors work just fine when done properly, but I would not
use them on anything above 2M.

Then why is it that Times Microwave only shows how to put on crimp and
clamp connectors on their cables on their web site. On their larger
cables (LMR 900 and up) they only have clamp connectors.

In all honesty, I don't have any real experience on most Times'
Cables..... mostly with Belden and Alpha products, so can't be sure what
connectors Times recommends for their larger RF cables.


If you have the money, the best iron for soldering coax connectors
would be one such as made by American Beauty..... but very pricey.


I found an 150 watt one for $115, that doesn't seem too bad to me if
it is that much better than others.

I think most experienced technicians would agree that the large mass
of the heating element on the American Beauty allows for a better and
quicker solder job, with much less risk of damaging the cable. If you
don't mind spending that money, I'd recommend the one you linked to. I
have one similar to it, and no regrets.


Ed K7AAT

Crimp is also very common in aerospace
and military.

You only need low power iron to attach the
center conductor to the pin, the N connectors
are clamp types. No tools needed.



Chris W wrote:

Luke wrote:

hi Chris,

Welmcome to ham radio, I am sure you will enjoy it
as much as the rest of us have !

Since you are starting out, to solder you just need
the iron, 100-120 watts with chisel tip is just fine,
don't attempt with the lower wattage units, you end
up damaging the coax dielectric and have more problems.

Crimps have their place, but, you will need to buy or
borrow the crimp frame tool along with the correct
dies for the connectors you want to crimp.
This is a lot more expensive then the solder iron.

Be sure to buy and use name brand connectors,
quality is worth the price, you buy it once.
You can get a bag of the cheap ones to practice
with and then use the good Amphenol or other brands.

http://www.amphenolrf.com/products/a...ctions/274.pdf


Actually I plan on going out of my way to avoid UHF connectors. I plan
on doing a fair amount at 400+ mhz and the UHF connectors don't do well
up there. So about the only place I will be using UHF is at the radio
if I can't find a radio with N connectors. My watt meter has N
connectors and so do my antennas. I'm not sure why anyone would want to
use UHF on anything outside. The only way to protect a UHF from the
weather is with some coax wrap but the N has a seal built in, of course
some kind of wrap as additional protection isn't a bad idea either if it
is done right. In some cases I may even replace the UHF connector in
the radio with an N but only if it is an old radio no longer under warranty.

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

Gift Giving Made Easy
Get the gifts you want &
give the gifts they want
One stop wish list for any gift,
from anywhere, for any occasion!
http://thewishzone.com