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
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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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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Gordon, I just went through the process of installing a fixed VHF. I used 4 of the connectors. I used the ones that you solder the tip only. I tested it all out and it worked great. To pass through the deck I ran the coax down the mast and drilled a 1/2" hole through the mast plate and the cabin roof. Using a square burr grinder on my rotary cutting tool I ground out the plywood core and filled the entire thing with Westsystem Epoxy.. After it dried a couple of days I redrilled a 3/8" hole and stuffed the coax along with 3 AWG 14 wire (for the mast and spreader light) down the hole and down through the compression post. I left about 10" of coax and wire coming out of the cabin roof and about the same amount coming out the bottom of the mast. I used a generous amount of boat calk (similar to 4200) in the hole and slathered some up the coax and wires. I then used a wire guard that would normally be used on electrical appliances like power tools and irons that hold the wire up and away from their handles and slid it down over the coax and wires. It's pretty water tight. Joe ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gordon Gilbert" <Gordon@FinancialWriting.net> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:58 AM Subject: M_Boats: Through-hull piece for VHF coax
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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Gordon, at VHF frequency the connectors are going to add very little loss. Probably 0.1-0.2dB as long as they are done correctly. A couple additional connectors will not be noticeable in the radio performance. Robbin 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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I'm convinced. I'll go with the threaded through-hull connector and four PL 259s. Thanks for the input! Gordon On May 28, 2009, at 6:11 AM, robbin roddewig wrote:
Gordon, at VHF frequency the connectors are going to add very little loss. Probably 0.1-0.2dB as long as they are done correctly. A couple additional connectors will not be noticeable in the radio performance.
Robbin
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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Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet!
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participants (5)
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Chad Parrish -
Gordon Gilbert -
Gordon Gilbert
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Joe Murphy -
robbin roddewig