[Sorry for being a little late to the party, but I was off newsgroups most
of this week.]

This thread had some discussion of adapters and I want to share my bad
experience with some low-cost items, proving, once again, that you get what
you pay for.

I am testing all my adapters and discarding some because the assemblies are
pulling apart with very little force. One manifestation: tightening the
threaded ring on a PL-259 (either cable end connector or adapter) and having
the ring just continue all the way on, separating from the connector body.

One test for a future failure has been any lack of smoothness when I rotate
the ring while tugging it gently. If it binds, rather than turning smoothly
in my hands, it's going to fail. Also, some of the cheap connectors are
press-fit together very poorly; they pull apart with only a few pounds of
pull.

Most of my early exposure to coax connectors was in and around the US Navy,
where reliable connectors are the rule, so I was a spoiled child.

"Sal"
(KD6VKW)