Dear Richard,

You have my thanks for your reply.

From: Richard Clark

Sounds like you need more practice soldering. All this scraping you
describe is unnecessary because you should already have bare metal.

I have 36 years of experience soldering.

Have you tried tinning Radio Shack's 274-284 connector? It acts as if it's made
of stainless steel. Maybe a chisel tip would work better.

One problem I am having is all my tools are at my home shop and the antenna and
radio are here at my office. Going back and forth confuses me.



The jack is not particularly an issue for its use

I think there's a reflection at the jack, forming a resonant tank. The
frequency depends on the cable length. A little less than 20 feet.

it is your attempts
to connect the twin lead to it (if that is what you mean by twinax).

I had used twinlead. I went to twinxial cable, two 20 gage conductors with
polyethylene around them, in a polyethylene carrier, with a foil shield and
what must be close to 100% overbraid. It is Coleman Cable 99301 20 gage 100 ohm
twinaxial type CL2.

You need to go to radio shack and buy a TV-Coax BalUn.

No, this is a stereo phone plug with balanced signal on tip and ring. I have
added ground on the barrel. The original antenna is a 22 gage dipole insulated
with polyethylene, not PVC. Each leg is 30 inches long. The pair to the plug
is 39 1/2 inches long.

If what
you describe as twinax is Coaxial cable, you have more issues of
soldering skills and antenna placement (get it outside).

The condominium association will not permit an outside antenna.

For the distance between you and the station, try to get the antenna
higher (yes I know you are against the ceiling, this too may be an
issue).

We're on the third floor. I note that if the antenna is allowed to tilt, the
signal fades. I have replaced the cigarette pack spacer by a foam block. It's
level now. The boom surface is three inches from the ceiling. Should it be
farther from the ceiling?

I just filed up a chisel tip.

This morning I lengthened the lead from the antenna to the twinax by stripping
more shield, foil, and filler. Now it works very badly. No stereo reception of
WHFS. Extending the sheild with foil helped. The legs are 18 inches long.

What I need is:

How long should the legs be at the antenna end?

How long should the filler alone be?

How long should the section with foil over filler be? (Should this foil be
tapered?)

How long should the braid be?

How long should the rest of cable, in its natural condition be?

What's a good way to terminate the twinaxial cable to the phone plug?

I have a short connection but no picture.

After I tin the plug, I really don't know how to do this best.

Ok, I've tinned the plug. It was much faster and easier with the chisel tip.

Now what, I wonder?


Yours,
Doug Goncz ( ftp://users.aol.com/DGoncz/incoming )
Student member SAE for one year.
I love: Dona, Jeff, Kim, Mom, Neelix, Tasha, and Teri, alphabetically.
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