G'day, Not having any local suppliers here forces mail order shopping for such items as coax fittings. Whilst there is certainly junk aplenty, I have not been let down by the items I've bought from "The RF Connection". I have paid 2-3 times as much for Amphenol barrels but not found them any better than good quality imports. My guide is Teflon dielectric, silver plating and mid price. N-type, BNC and PL259. Crimp, clamp and solder types. No disappointments, no failures.
I use Ecoflex coax for my main runs and the fittings are special size and pricy, upwards of $8 for a PL259 or N-type. Andrew stuff can be pretty eye watering. Regards, Mike VP8NO ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Brown" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 1:48 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Intermittently loses gain > On 10/30/2010 2:13 PM, Ron W3ZV wrote: >> That leaves a couple of >> coax connectors, a balun and the ladder line feed. Sounds like >> the next >> step is a quick and dirty antenna to the RX antenna input. > > Step #1 -- VERY IMPORTANT. Look at every coax adapter anywhere in > your > station. If it does not say Amphenol on it, or if it does not have > a UG > number on it, THROW IT AWAY. I'm talking barrels, Tees, Elbows, > UHF to > BNC, UHF to N, etc. The unbranded connectors you buy at hamfests > and > from ham dealers are almost always made very cheaply, often fall > apart, > often go intermittent, and often overheat and fail. > > When I got back on the air in 2003 after a long period of > inactivity, I > restocked with these junk connectors, not knowing any better. > Over the > next several years, I experienced at nearly a dozen intermittents > and > failures that I eventually tracked down to one of them. REAL > Amphenol > connectors and adapters are one of the things I always look for at > hamfests flea markets, but I couldn't find enough of them for my > station, so a few years ago, I bit the bullet and bought a bunch > of the > real thing new from Allied. > > Some examples of the failures. 1) intermittent connections at the > coax > barrel spacing two lengths of coax feeding an antenna; 2) a Tee > connector that came with a stacking harness for 6M antennas fell > apart; > 3) an elbow connecting coax to my antenna tuner overheated after > about > one hour of contest operation -- SWR went very high and the > connector > was VERY hot when I touched it because the wire inside was a tiny > spring; 4) I've had at least four BNC to UHF or UHF to N > connectors fall > apart. > > In the world of pro audio where I made my living, we see MANY > problems > with junk audio connectors. The good stuff costs more to make, so > they > costs more to buy. When they fail, they can cost a lot of time > and > trouble. Sometimes they only cause an inconvenience, but > sometimes they > can cause something to break, or cause you to have to climb a > tower to > replace a bad one. Bottom line -- connectors are a terrible place > to > play cheap. > > 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
