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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. I drive: A double-step Thunderbolt with 657% range. |
#3
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Doug Goncz wrote:
I have 36 years of experience soldering. Don't worry, Doug, your apprenticeship will be up soon. -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
#4
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On 19 Aug 2004 14:29:13 GMT, ( Doug Goncz ) wrote:
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. Doug, I too have found that RatShack audio connectors do not take to solder well. Not always, perhaps a quarter to a third of the ones I've used. A narrow chisel tip has worked well for me as has going to one of the diminishing number of electronics supply shops for my parts. However, I realize not every area has such a place. If you have a Fry's Electronics store in your area it is worth looking there for both audio and RF connectors as well as soldering equipment - pick out a few different tips Howard |
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