Thanks for the feedback, Chad. Maybe I'll learn how to make a nice soldered connection and forget the crimp-ons. Your linked tutorial looks like a great place to start. Gordon On May 27, 2009, at 9:33 AM, Chad Parrish wrote:
Hi Gordon,
I have not had good luck with solderless PL-259 connectors with ham radio stuff, they always seem to fail or encourage corrosion after a season or two. Here is a good link for installing connectors.http://www.seed-solutions.com/gregordy/Amateur%20Radio/Experimentation/Solde...
I have had good luck buying connectors from these guys: http://www.radioinc.com/ they are in Minnesota, I believe these guys have a store in Milwaukee http://www.aesham.com/
The only thing i do different then the guy in the link above is I add a piece of shrink tubing to help seal things up and if I don't anticipate having to unscrew the connector very often (ie the connection at the antenna) I then wrap the whole connector in electrical tape. If you can keep the water out of the connector the radio will work much better when it is raining and the wiring will last a lot longer.
--Chad Parrish NØZCB
On May 27, 2009, at 8:58 AM, Gordon Gilbert wrote:
I'm preparing to go from a hand-held VHF to a hard-wired unit, and I'm contemplating a couple of ways to lead coax through the deck. Has anyone used the Cable Clams made by Blue Sea Systems? They allow you to put coax with a PL 259 connector through the deck and then apparently seal the cable tight. The benefit, it seems to me, would be using two less connectors, which might improve radio performance (plus make the installation simpler and perhaps less expensive). I'm just wondering how watertight they really are, especially after a few years of opening and closing to pass through the cable when setting up the boat.
Otherwise, I would use one of those long threaded double-female connectors with two nuts (using two washers above and below deck) and a total of four PL 259 connectors. The PL 259 connector brings me to another question: Has anyone used the Shakespeare solderless, crimp-on connectors? Do they provide a solid connection?
Thanks!
Gordon M-17 "Sapphire" Milwaukee
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