On Mon, 31 May 2004 12:37:31 -0500, Cecil Moore
wrote:

Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr. wrote:
And, do you want to trust factory installed cheap connectors?

Installed by minimum wage workers?

Who are judged by speed, not quality?

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

On Mon, 31 May 2004 17:52:59 GMT, Gary S. Idontwantspam@net wrote:

On Mon, 31 May 2004 12:37:31 -0500, Cecil Moore
wrote:

Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr. wrote:
And, do you want to trust factory installed cheap connectors?

Installed by minimum wage workers?

Who are judged by speed, not quality?


Well, the average ham with a mighty 40-watt soldering iron and rusty
pliers isn't going to do much better. At least the minimum wage guys
are probably making cables with good tools -- 120-watt or better
Weller irons with 1/2" tips, etcetera...

Bob
k5qwg



Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

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"Bob" == Bob Miller writes:

Gary And, do you want to trust factory installed cheap connectors?

Cecil Installed by minimum wage workers?

Gary Who are judged by speed, not quality?

Bob Well, the average ham with a mighty 40-watt soldering iron and
Bob rusty pliers isn't going to do much better. At least the minimum
Bob wage guys are probably making cables with good tools -- 120-watt
Bob or better Weller irons with 1/2" tips, etcetera...

I spend just about eight hours a day lately at a factory where cables
and other stuff are made. Every day when I walk through the
cable-making section, I think to myself "wow, I wish I could use those
tools for my own nefarious purposes". The tools are expensive and
pretty high-quality, but the employees see them as just... tools.

Jack.
- --
Jack Twilley
jmt at twilley dot org
http colon slash slash www dot twilley dot org slash tilde jmt slash
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Bob Miller wrote in message . ..
On Mon, 31 May 2004 17:52:59 GMT, Gary S. Idontwantspam@net wrote:

On Mon, 31 May 2004 12:37:31 -0500, Cecil Moore
wrote:

Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr. wrote:
And, do you want to trust factory installed cheap connectors?

Installed by minimum wage workers?

Who are judged by speed, not quality?


Well, the average ham with a mighty 40-watt soldering iron and rusty
pliers isn't going to do much better. At least the minimum wage guys
are probably making cables with good tools -- 120-watt or better
Weller irons with 1/2" tips, etcetera...

Speaking of tips . . here's one. I've never been happy with any of the
Weller irons, not even the clunky big 300W versions when it comes to
"doing" PL-259s. Turns out that Sears has a very light and compact
transformerless pistol type "instant heat" 400/150 watt iron which I
bought for $59.95 about a year and a half ago. Does a great job on
connectors and heavy antenna wire.

Bob
k5qwg

w3rv

Brian Kelly wrote:
Well, the average ham with a mighty 40-watt soldering iron and rusty
pliers isn't going to do much better. At least the minimum wage guys
are probably making cables with good tools -- 120-watt or better
Weller irons with 1/2" tips, etcetera...

Speaking of tips . . here's one. I've never been happy with any of the
Weller irons, not even the clunky big 300W versions when it comes to
"doing" PL-259s. Turns out that Sears has a very light and compact
transformerless pistol type "instant heat" 400/150 watt iron which I
bought for $59.95 about a year and a half ago. Does a great job on
connectors and heavy antenna wire.

I've never been happy with monster irons either, but have had very good
results using a hot-air gun as 'pre-heat' for my regular 45W Weller.

It's very easy to judge how long to pre-heat the whole connector body.
Then the regular small iron has plenty of power to make a good, clean
joint in the solder holes. The same technique is also good for fine
soldering work on large lumps of metal.

The bonus is that a hot-air gun is much cheaper than a large iron, and
you can also use it for other things too, like heat-shrink tubing. (Did
somebody mention removing old paint? What's this "paint" stuff? :-)

It isn't a technique to use at the top of a tower... but there isn't
*any* good way to do heavy soldering under those conditions. For that
kind of application, seek out the pressure-sleeve connectors that only
require the center pin to be soldered.


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

"Ian White, G3SEK" wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:
Well, the average ham with a mighty 40-watt soldering iron and rusty
pliers isn't going to do much better. At least the minimum wage guys
are probably making cables with good tools -- 120-watt or better
Weller irons with 1/2" tips, etcetera...

Speaking of tips . . here's one. I've never been happy with any of the
Weller irons, not even the clunky big 300W versions when it comes to
"doing" PL-259s. Turns out that Sears has a very light and compact
transformerless pistol type "instant heat" 400/150 watt iron which I
bought for $59.95 about a year and a half ago. Does a great job on
connectors and heavy antenna wire.

I've never been happy with monster irons either, but have had very good
results using a hot-air gun as 'pre-heat' for my regular 45W Weller.

It's very easy to judge how long to pre-heat the whole connector body.
Then the regular small iron has plenty of power to make a good, clean
joint in the solder holes. The same technique is also good for fine
soldering work on large lumps of metal.

That's clever, I have a heat gun (somewhere), I'll try it. Sounds like
the method might reduce the total number of BTUs/calories absorbed by
the dielectric which has always been a concern here. Barbequed coax is
very annoying.


The bonus is that a hot-air gun is much cheaper than a large iron, and
you can also use it for other things too, like heat-shrink tubing. (Did
somebody mention removing old paint? What's this "paint" stuff? :-)

It isn't a technique to use at the top of a tower... but there isn't
*any* good way to do heavy soldering under those conditions.

.. . . propane torch . .

For that
kind of application, seek out the pressure-sleeve connectors that only
require the center pin to be soldered.

w3rv

Brian Kelly wrote:
I've never been happy with monster irons either, but have had very good
results using a hot-air gun as 'pre-heat' for my regular 45W Weller.

It's very easy to judge how long to pre-heat the whole connector body.
Then the regular small iron has plenty of power to make a good, clean
joint in the solder holes. The same technique is also good for fine
soldering work on large lumps of metal.

That's clever, I have a heat gun (somewhere), I'll try it. Sounds like
the method might reduce the total number of BTUs/calories absorbed by
the dielectric which has always been a concern here. Barbequed coax is
very annoying.

If you prefer your PVC under-cooked, wrap some aluminum foil around
it... and don't point the heat gun that way :-)


The bonus is that a hot-air gun is much cheaper than a large iron, and
you can also use it for other things too, like heat-shrink tubing. (Did
somebody mention removing old paint? What's this "paint" stuff? :-)

It isn't a technique to use at the top of a tower... but there isn't
*any* good way to do heavy soldering under those conditions.

. . . propane torch . .

Yeah, right...


--
73 from Ian G3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

It is perhaps worth noting that all the cute comments about cheap
materials and labor would apply equally well to nearly all the products
we buy these days. Who here makes all his own clothes and shoes,
for example?

As to cables, some sources (e.g., Cable Experts) seem to pride
themselves on good quality. And it would be a sad state of affairs if
they (and other professional cable makers), couldn't install connectors
much faster AND better than the typical ham with his motley hand tools.

Some exotic cable types are not even spec'ed for user-installed
connectors, by the way--even if said user is a competent electronics
house. Such cable types REQUIRE factory-installed connectors.
(This is NOT stuff needed by the average ham, fortunately.)

Notwithstanding all this, there are undeniably some junky, Chinese
ready-made cables out there. I bought a few from HRO, and about 20%
turned out to be bad. So now I will buy only the relatively upmarket
ready-mades (like Cable Experts). I notice that our local HRO seems
to be phasing out the no-name ready-mades; so I suspect I wasn't the
only one to have problems with them.

73, Ed

"Gary S." Idontwantspam@net wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 May 2004 12:37:31 -0500, Cecil Moore
wrote:

Gary V. Deutschmann, Sr. wrote:
And, do you want to trust factory installed cheap connectors?

Installed by minimum wage workers?

Who are judged by speed, not quality?

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

(nt)

"Old Ed" wrote in message
ink.net...
.............................................
Notwithstanding all this, there are undeniably some junky, Chinese
ready-made cables out there. I bought a few from HRO, and about 20%
turned out to be bad. So now I will buy only the relatively upmarket
ready-mades (like Cable Experts). I notice that our local HRO seems
to be phasing out the no-name ready-mades; so I suspect I wasn't the
only one to have problems with them.

73, Ed

It's also worthwhile seeing what the cable looks like. A couple of years ago
I bought 100 feet of generic (Carol?) RG8 foam. Looked OK. Next time I
bought a 25 foot piece of the same brand with connectors. Well, when the
connector came off, I saw it was not the same cable; next to no shield.

Tam/WB2TT