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QRT for decades now getting the urge to go online again

Hi guys,

Could you tell me what sort of wattage a soldering iron needs to have
to cope with soldering co-ax into PL509s?

TIA
--

Cheers

DrT
______________________________
We may not be able to prevent the stormy times in
our lives; but we can always choose to dance
in the puddles (Jewish proverb).

QRT for decades now getting the urge to go online again

Hi guys,

Could you tell me what sort of wattage a soldering iron needs to have
to cope with soldering co-ax into PL509s?

The PL509 is a vacuum tube... I assume you mean a PL-259 "UHF" connector?

They need a good deal of heat delivered, due to the large metal mass.
A small iron will heat the connector slowly... by the time you manage
to make a solder bond, the cable itself will have been heated up a lot
and there can be problems with the dielectric melting. An iron with
higher wattage (and/or lots of mass, well heated) can make a quicker
job of it and let you make the solder joint more quickly.

I've had the best luck with a full-sized Weller soldering iron (the
140/200 watt variety). I think I recall doing one or two with a
Weller WTCP iron using a large tip, but it wasn't easy. Butane-fired
portable soldering irons are another possibility... some of these can
deliver a lot of heat.

Another possibility is to hold the connector and cable in place with a
clamping arrangement somehow, pre-heat the connector with a hot-air
gun (a hair dryer will do) and then finish the job with a
smaller-wattage soldering iron. By preheating the connector you
reduce its tendency to sink heat away from area that you're trying to
solder.

There are some alternative PL-259 connectors, which use a crimper and
a proper die set rather than soldering. See the discussion at
http://www.eham.net/articles/19257 for a look-see. A properly-done
crimp can be just as permanent as a solder junction... sometimes
better.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

QRT for decades now getting the urge to go online again

On 3/17/2012 10:06 PM, DrTeeth wrote:
Hi guys,

Could you tell me what sort of wattage a soldering iron needs to have
to cope with soldering co-ax into PL509s?

I've never had luck with irons: I use a soldering gun. The Weller 140
watt model works OK.

If you have the choice, I recommend switching to BNC or N connectors:
they're much easier to assemble, and have far less loss.

Bill, W1AC

--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)

QRT for decades now getting the urge to go online again

On Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:10:20 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
Bill Horne disturbed my reverie and wrote:

I've never had luck with irons: I use a soldering gun. The Weller 140
watt model works OK.

Thanks Bill, it is on my shopping list ;-).
--

Cheers

DrT
______________________________
We may not be able to prevent the stormy times in
our lives; but we can always choose to dance
in the puddles (Jewish proverb).

QRT for decades now getting the urge to go online again

On Mar 19, 11:10 am, Bill Horne wrote:

If you have the choice, I recommend switching to BNC or N connectors:
they're much easier to assemble, and have far less loss.

Hadn't thought about the loss perspective. I don't care for the
PL-259's tendency to not make good connection on the pin after a few
insert cycles and I hear that N connectors are a bit better. But I've
not considered BNC, at least for HF work. I use them on VHF/UHF but
my power levels are well under 50W and SWR's are all fairly reasonable
(under 3:1).

Am I safe using BNC at 100W on HF with SWR's in the 5:1 range? What is
the breakdown voltage of a BNC connector?

-= Bob =-

QRT for decades now getting the urge to go online again

On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:15:44 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
KC4UAI disturbed my reverie and wrote:

But I've
not considered BNC, at least for HF work.

Though it may be an impure thought, but don't HF commercial rigs all
have SO 259s? Are adaptors available?
--

Cheers

DrT
______________________________
We may not be able to prevent the stormy times in
our lives; but we can always choose to dance
in the puddles (Jewish proverb).

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrTeeth (Post 788676)

But I've
not considered BNC, at least for HF work.

Though it may be an impure thought, but don't HF commercial rigs all
have SO 259s? Are adapters available?
--

Cheers

Yes - but the adapters are quite lossy.

QRT for decades now getting the urge to go online again

In article Channel Jumper writes:

DrTeeth;788676 Wrote:

But I've
not considered BNC, at least for HF work.

Though it may be an impure thought, but don't HF commercial rigs all
have SO 259s? Are adapters available?
--

Cheers

Yes - but the adapters are quite lossy.

Actually, I have not found significant loss in any of these adapters
I have used. If they had much loss, they would get warm (or hot) when
transmitting, and none I have used do.

Alan

QRT for decades now getting the urge to go online again