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Are all PL-259s equal
Is it worth paying a high price for sa supposed quality plg or can
equally used the much cheaper ones? Been QRT for over 25 years and should be on the air in a few weeks with a FlexRadio 6300 TIA Guy G4DWV/4X1LT |
Are all PL-259s equal
On 8/14/2014 5:24 PM, DrTeeth wrote:
Is it worth paying a high price for sa supposed quality plg or can equally used the much cheaper ones? They are not all equal. Aside from actual physical dimensions being "not right." There's also a matter of material, finish and dielectric. -- Jeff-1.0 wa6fwi http://www.foxsmercantile.com |
Are all PL-259s equal
Is it worth paying a high price for sa supposed quality plg or can
equally used the much cheaper ones? Been QRT for over 25 years and should be on the air in a few weeks with a FlexRadio 6300 The cheap ones tend to be nickel-plated brass. They can be a bear to solder (it doesn't "wet" nickel easily) unless you grind off the nickel to expose the brass. The cheap ones also tend to use poorer-grade insulation such as nylon, which doesn't stand up to high-heat soldering well... and since you need to apply a lot of heat to these things to solder them, that's a problem. And, I've seen cheapies whose thread dimensions seemed to be a bit "off" or which had some roughness in the thread or barrel, and didn't fasten into the socket smoothly. The really good ones are silver-plated, and take solder much more easily. They also use Teflon insulation, which resists soldering heat quite well. "Cheap is often very expensive". It's frustrating to have to go through two or three cheap connectors, several installation attempts, and a "Damn it, there's an internal short, gotta cut it off and try again" which ends up costing you lots of time, and (sometimes) more $$ on connectors than if you'd just gone ahead and bought a good one to start. And, having your rig not work well (or even suffer high-SWR damage) because your connector wasn't *really* soldered right, and went "open" or shorted out at the top end of the feedline right in the middle of a contest or new DX contact... well, "imagine the grousing" as my wife puts it. HRO carries silver/teflon PL-259s for $2.69, Quicksilver sells 'em 4/$12 (or 4/$10 for the crimp-on style), and other mail-order dealers probably have comparable prices. "Saving" a buck or so buying a cheap connector is really not worth the risk of hassle. |
Are all PL-259s equal
On 8/14/14, 6:28 PM, David Platt wrote:
"Cheap is often very expensive". There are many places in life to cut corners. Connectors is not one. Neither is coax. 73, Steve KB9X |
Are all PL-259s equal
"DrTeeth" wrote in message
... Is it worth paying a high price for sa supposed quality plg or can equally used the much cheaper ones? Been QRT for over 25 years and should be on the air in a few weeks with a FlexRadio 6300 Be warned that there are both metric and imperial versions of the PL259/SO239 combinations. I fell over this incompatibility a few years ago when buying a second-hand 2m colinear, despite that I had been using them for 20 years previously. |
Are all PL-259s equal
On Thu, 14 Aug 2014 18:24:05 EDT, DrTeeth wrote:
Is it worth paying a high price for sa supposed quality plg or can equally used the much cheaper ones? Been QRT for over 25 years and should be on the air in a few weeks with a FlexRadio 6300 Ummm... a Flexradio 6300 retails for $2500 and you're trying to be cheap on coax connectors? That's 0.1% of the retail price for a silver plated and PTFE connector. I'll play along, but your question seems a bit absurd. There are many things wrong with the PL259, few of which will have an effect on your HF operation. 1. The PL259 is not 50 ohms and therefore produces an "impedance bump" on the line. You can see it with a TDR (time domain reflectometer). However, unless you're using it at microwave frequencies, it won't have any effect on your operation. 2. The PL259 plating has an effect on PIM (passive intermodulation distortion) where the non-linearities of some plating material, or the insufficient thickness of the plating, can cause mixing. Also, magnetic materials used in the connectors are a problem. Nickel plating is the worst. White bronze or Nexcote are the best. Mixing plating types is really bad. Unless you're running full duplex on HF (unlikely), or listening for really weak signals at VHF/UHF and higher frequencies, it's unlikely to be a problem. 3. The PL259 is a PITA to assemble correctly. You have a chance of getting it right with a crimp connector, but the conventional PL259 is an ugly mess to assemble. This is fairly accurate. Note the vise grips and butane torch: http://www.seed-solutions.com/gregordy/Amateur%20Radio/Experimentation/SolderCoax.htm Despite such methods I still see broken jumper cables with rotating connectors. Even if it's done correctly, they still tend to fall apart. Extra credit for nickel plating that is difficult to solder. 4. The necessary insulation comes in a variety of materials. Nylon is the worst as it's hydroscope (absorbs moisture). Bakelite is brittle, but deteriorates over time. Some kind of white stuff looks ok for RF, but melts easily. PTFE (Teflon) is probably the best and does well at high power levels. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
Are all PL-259s equal
On 8/16/14, 4:24 PM, Bill Horne W1AC wrote:
"Was that over the top? I can never tell ..." Yes. Much appreciated. Thank you. |
Are all PL-259s equal
On Sat, 16 Aug 2014 17:25:15 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
Jeff Liebermann disturbed my reverie and wrote: Ummm... a Flexradio 6300 retails for $2500 and you're trying to be cheap on coax connectors? No I was not. I was just asking if it is worth spending more. I am very happy to pay for quality but not prepared to throw my money away. Got some very nice RG213 coax too - even though the run will be less than 10 meters. Just because something is more expensive does not necessarily mean that it is better. Many things do not sell if priced cheap and fly off the shelf when over-priced. I do not mind paying for quality at all. In fact, I have bought some very expensive high-quality compression PL259s that cost approx $9 each. -- 73's de Guy G4DWV/4X1LT |
Are all PL-259s equal
On Mon, 25 Aug 2014 14:35:41 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
(Bill Horne W1AC) disturbed my reverie and wrote: According to Edmunds, a Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG has an MSRP of over $200,000.00. Does that mean that everyone who buys one should always use the most expensive brand-name fuel available? I use economy tyres on my 320E CDi. I do not believe - and I have looked and asked many tyre people if the branded tyres are 100% 'better' (whatever that means) than the cheaper ones at half the price. Nobody has yet convinced me. -- Cheers, DrT ** You've never known happiness until you're married; ** but by then it is too late. |
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