Hi guys,

Could you tell me what sort of wattage a soldering iron needs to have
to cope with soldering co-ax into PL509s?

TIA
--

Cheers

DrT
______________________________
We may not be able to prevent the stormy times in
our lives; but we can always choose to dance
in the puddles (Jewish proverb).

Hi guys,

Could you tell me what sort of wattage a soldering iron needs to have
to cope with soldering co-ax into PL509s?

The PL509 is a vacuum tube... I assume you mean a PL-259 "UHF" connector?

They need a good deal of heat delivered, due to the large metal mass.
A small iron will heat the connector slowly... by the time you manage
to make a solder bond, the cable itself will have been heated up a lot
and there can be problems with the dielectric melting. An iron with
higher wattage (and/or lots of mass, well heated) can make a quicker
job of it and let you make the solder joint more quickly.

I've had the best luck with a full-sized Weller soldering iron (the
140/200 watt variety). I think I recall doing one or two with a
Weller WTCP iron using a large tip, but it wasn't easy. Butane-fired
portable soldering irons are another possibility... some of these can
deliver a lot of heat.

Another possibility is to hold the connector and cable in place with a
clamping arrangement somehow, pre-heat the connector with a hot-air
gun (a hair dryer will do) and then finish the job with a
smaller-wattage soldering iron. By preheating the connector you
reduce its tendency to sink heat away from area that you're trying to
solder.

There are some alternative PL-259 connectors, which use a crimper and
a proper die set rather than soldering. See the discussion at
http://www.eham.net/articles/19257 for a look-see. A properly-done
crimp can be just as permanent as a solder junction... sometimes
better.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 22:25:00 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
(Dave Platt) disturbed my reverie and wrote:

The PL509 is a vacuum tube... I assume you mean a PL-259 "UHF" connector?
slaps head Of course, you are correct.

Thanks for the help,

de G4DWV, 4X1LT
--

Cheers

DrT
______________________________
We may not be able to prevent the stormy times in
our lives; but we can always choose to dance
in the puddles (Jewish proverb).

On 3/17/2012 10:06 PM, DrTeeth wrote:
Hi guys,

Could you tell me what sort of wattage a soldering iron needs to have
to cope with soldering co-ax into PL509s?

I've never had luck with irons: I use a soldering gun. The Weller 140
watt model works OK.

If you have the choice, I recommend switching to BNC or N connectors:
they're much easier to assemble, and have far less loss.

Bill, W1AC

--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)

On Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:10:20 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
Bill Horne disturbed my reverie and wrote:

I've never had luck with irons: I use a soldering gun. The Weller 140
watt model works OK.

Thanks Bill, it is on my shopping list ;-).
--

Cheers

DrT
______________________________
We may not be able to prevent the stormy times in
our lives; but we can always choose to dance
in the puddles (Jewish proverb).

On Mar 19, 11:10 am, Bill Horne wrote:

If you have the choice, I recommend switching to BNC or N connectors:
they're much easier to assemble, and have far less loss.

Hadn't thought about the loss perspective. I don't care for the
PL-259's tendency to not make good connection on the pin after a few
insert cycles and I hear that N connectors are a bit better. But I've
not considered BNC, at least for HF work. I use them on VHF/UHF but
my power levels are well under 50W and SWR's are all fairly reasonable
(under 3:1).

Am I safe using BNC at 100W on HF with SWR's in the 5:1 range? What is
the breakdown voltage of a BNC connector?

-= Bob =-

On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:15:44 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
KC4UAI disturbed my reverie and wrote:

But I've
not considered BNC, at least for HF work.

Though it may be an impure thought, but don't HF commercial rigs all
have SO 259s? Are adaptors available?
--

Cheers

DrT
______________________________
We may not be able to prevent the stormy times in
our lives; but we can always choose to dance
in the puddles (Jewish proverb).

Yes - but the adapters are quite lossy.

In article Channel Jumper writes:

DrTeeth;788676 Wrote:


But I've
not considered BNC, at least for HF work.

Though it may be an impure thought, but don't HF commercial rigs all
have SO 259s? Are adapters available?
--

Cheers



Yes - but the adapters are quite lossy.


Actually, I have not found significant loss in any of these adapters
I have used. If they had much loss, they would get warm (or hot) when
transmitting, and none I have used do.

Alan

On Mon, 26 Mar 2012 01:45:59 EDT, (Alan)
wrote:

In article Channel Jumper writes:

DrTeeth;788676 Wrote:


But I've
not considered BNC, at least for HF work.

Though it may be an impure thought, but don't HF commercial rigs all
have SO 259s? Are adapters available?
--

Cheers



Yes - but the adapters are quite lossy.


Actually, I have not found significant loss in any of these adapters
I have used. If they had much loss, they would get warm (or hot) when
transmitting, and none I have used do.

Alan

I agree with Alan. The adapters are not lossy.
I use them frequently to connect the outputs of my handhelds (BNC,
SMA) to mag-mount antennas (UHF connector). They work fine. Good
output signal and good reception. No heat generated.

Dick Grady, AC7EL

To respond to me privately, email to:
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