When soldering PL259s, I cut the jacket the required distance back. I
then slid the jacket to be removed forward, but not completely off the
braid. This kept the braid flat against the dielectric. Once that braid
was tinned with minimal solder I slid the jacket off. I trimmed the
braid back a little from the end of the dielectric, or about to the end
of where it was tinned if I did it right. Minimal tinning means you
don't need to file the solder down and being tight to the dielectric
keeps the impedance correct to that point. It also minimizes heat
damage to the dielectric. If all went well to this point, the connector
should screw over the jacket. with just enough braid exposed in the
holes that it can be soldered to the connector. I prefer a small, but
relatively hot tip to make the solder joint quickly.
I have not seen a foam dielectric that was not easily damaged by too
much heat. CNT-240, RG-8X, LMR 400 & 600, BuryFlex. 9913F, etc.
The trick is to get the barrel hot enough to melt the solder around the
hole, but not hot enough all over to damage the dielectric.
With only one working hand I can no longer do this, but I had gone to
crimp connectors prior to losing the use of my left hand. It is getting
back to where I can hold the solder between my thumb and forefinger with
my left hand, if I can rest the hand on something solid.
I still much prefer the crimp type and as industry has gone to crimp, I
have trouble understanding why so many hams continue to use the solder type.
A good, properly adjusted stripper and crimp connectors produce
consistent and strong connections much quicker than soldering and
require far less skill. Yes, there is a learning curve, but it's
neither steep nor long.
73
Roger (K8RI)
. i On 5/11/2016 Wednesday 10:23 PM, Bob K6UJ wrote:
Tim,
I tried this method and and after a couple of tries I think I have
mastered it.
Please bear with me, hihi.
I trimmed the braid slightly over 1/8" away from the end of the
connector shell and then fanned out
and folded the braid back over the end of the shell. Then soldered
the braid to the end of the
connector shell. The soldering only takes up 1/8" at the end of the
connector. My first attempts
had the soldering to the braid too far up on the connector and I
couldn't unscrew the connector barrel enough.
That's why I am now using the 1/8" trim.
The pictures of the last steps showing the soldering of the braid to
the shell could be clearer. :-)
I use shrink tubing and slide it over the soldered joint just enough
to insure I can unscrew the connector barrel
and it looks great. I like this process, no over heating the
dielectric as you said, no question about a good
soldered connection to the shell, and super strong.
I have a hunch that others that may have tried it didn't like the look
of the finished result. Yes the soldered
joint to the shell is there for god and everyone to see :-) but if the
shield strands are trimmed equally before
soldering and then the connector and coax junction is either taped or
shrink tube is used (one of which is a good
idea to do) then it is a great PL-259 connection and looks pretty too
hihi.
73,
Bob
K6UJ
On 5/11/16 6:27 PM, Tim Duffy wrote:
Hello Jim:
As you reported - W3LPL and K3LR (and many others) are using this method
with the Amphenol 83-1SP of soldering the shield on the back of the
connector. It works great.
http://www.k3lr.com/engineering/pl259/
No melted dielectric and very visible great soldered connection of the
shield. No failures here at the K3LR multi multi station in over 30
years -
and the contest station success efforts - show good results.
Hope to see you in Dayton
73
Tim K3LR
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf
Of Jim
Brown
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 8:05 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] PL259 Connectors Part 2
On Tue,5/10/2016 4:48 PM, Kevin Stover wrote:
I tried to pull one off a waste piece of coax. Connector clamped in my
bench vise and two guys pulling on the coax.
Didn't budge. Try that with the soldered connector.
A properly installed soldered Amphenol 83-1SP makes a pretty strong
connection to the coax. "Properly installed" includes stripping just
enough braid so that it shows through the solder holes and so that the
coax jacket screws into the connector shell, soldering the braid at each
hole so that it flows well, and doing a good soldering job on the center
conductor. Many times, I've had to yank pretty hard on the RG11 attached
to high dipoles to guide them away from tree limbs, etc. So far, I've
never had one pull apart.
K3LR has developed a method of soldering the braid to the OUTSIDE of the
connector shell and covering it with heat shrink. That's probably even
stronger! I've done that with a few connectors, but wasn't thrilled
with the result. QST published it a few years ago, and I think it's
somewhere on the internet.
73, Jim K9YC
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73
Roger (K8RI)
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