On 5/8/2014 10:29 AM, Ralph Mowery wrote:

"Jerry Stuckle" wrote in message
...
Are you sure the braid is aluminum and not silver coated copper? We use
RG-6-quad, which has two layers of foil alternating with two layers of
silvered copper braid.


I don't have that much experiance with the rg-6, but I have never seen any
that used silver coated copper. Just way too expensive for the cable TV
industry. I have used lots of silver coated rg-400 and rg-214. They take
solder very well. The rg-6 braid I have seen will not take solder. I have
used regular 60/40 and some silver bearing solder also. Have used several
soldering guns up to the largest Weller (thinking around 325 watts ) gun.

I have been a ham for over 40 years and put on lots of pl259 solder
connectors and lately the crimp on 259, bnc and N types.

Just lately I may put up an antenna that needs to have a 1/4 wavelength of
70 ohm coax as a matching segment. I have some rg-6 laying around the
house,but not any rg59 or rg11. Just trying to find something that will let
me connect that braid that I can not solder to to a # 14 stranded wire and
will stand up being outside.


All of the RG-6 we use has silver-coated copper braid with an aluminum
foil. But as I said above, we use quad shield. Yes, it's more
expensive, but worth the extra cost. One callback to replace a bad
cable can easily cost more than a 500' reel of the stuff. Over the last
11 years, we've had zero callbacks due to cable problems. We install
thousands of feet of it every year.

One other thing I forgot to mention. Aluminum oxidizes very easily, and
if it's crimped to a non-aluminum connector the problem is even worse.
Ensure you waterproof it. My recommendation if you use the female F
connector you mentioned in another post is, once you have it all
together and ensure it's working correctly, seal it thoroughly. Dipping
in a non-conductive epoxy based sealer is best. That way there's no way
for water to get in. Sure, if you have to replace it you'll have to cut
off the connector. But you'll have to do that anyway with a crimp
connector.

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Jerry, AI0K

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