My 50+ year old Weller 275 watt soldering gun does a great job on 259's, but it's heavy and requires power.
For work on ships I use a butane-powered "Port-A-Sol" iron the size of a fat pen with a built-in lighter. It closes up to fit in one's shirt pocket, a valuable feature when one has to carry the tools up five or six decks then climb a mast as well. That's a design from the late 1980's but they are still around. (Note that I've never seen an "electric" portable iron that get anywhere near as hot as the Port-A-Sol.) When the freezing rain is soaking everything in sight one works the safety strap holding you aloft so you can hang on the mast and hover over the connector to keep it dry, then put on the tiny "torch" head. It'll melt coax in an instant if mis-handled, but heats the shell quickly and efficiently to provide an excellent solder joint. Even so, the PL259 will leak water like a sieve around the joint where the two halves are drawn together by the threaded coupling. The machining on the mating faces is not smooth enough to provide a water-tight seal and, with the expansion and contraction that will happen with temperature changes, I'd never expect it to stay all that tight anyway. Also, even though the soldering is perfect, the water can still migrate down the coax into the connector where it'll find its way right through the mesh of the shield where it exits the jacket inside the connector itself. For added safety on a ship, especially where I don't want Capt'n Ahab coming after me with a harpoon when they returned to port in a few months because his radio quit, I always reverse direction on a coax feedline where I have to have a connector out in the weather. That is, if the coax is coming down, say, the side of a smokestack and I must put a connector in the system, I turn the coax line 180 degrees so the it forms a "drip loop" just before the connector and the connector itself runs up the mast again. Then after the connector, I turn the coax back down to continue down the side of the stack (mast, pole, or whatever the support). That way any water following the coax outer sheath will drip off at the loop or run down the coax away from the connector. Of course, in addition to that the connector gets a good layer of coax seal as I described before. That alone will work, but a little extra backup is never a bad idea. Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Doug Person Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 7:31 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Soldering PL-259s (WAS: Fw: RG-213 BNC connector) To solder PL-259's I use a propane torch. I am able to get the body hot enough quickly enough to flow the solder without over heating the coax. I use fairly thick solder. I am able to completely fill the solder holes which helps to ward off moisture getting in. Some coax has a low melting temperature and will be a problem. Typically , this type of coax is a problem even with a soldering gun or high-watt iron. 73, Doug -- K0DXV _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
