Thanks everyone for the input. I can understand the statements regarding standardizing on connectors and cable in order to minimize tooling.
The connectors I originally purchased were not labeled in any way. They were cheapies I specifically bought at a hamfest in order to get a little practice in. I will take a look at a few manufacturers and see what info I came up with. RF Products and Amphenol come to mind first hand. I have used Amphenol in the past for other connectors and trust their quality. I hope you all will pardon my ignorance on this subject. I have a bit of experience with electronics but not with cabling. Especially not with crimped connectors. I have always soldered things in the past, but when it came to RF connectors, I was not having much success. So I chose to take a look into crimping. BTW, I crimped my first TNC connector the other night and was amazed at how easy it was in comparison to soldering a connector. Jeff, I will go through the archives and see what I can find. I usually have poor luck doing searches in yahoo groups, but since you gave the date I can most likely find it. Thanks again for everyone's input. -Albert --- In [email protected], "Jeff DePolo" <j...@...> wrote: > > > I know this has been thrown around a bit before but I could > > use a little assistance. > > Go through the repeater-builder message archive on Yahoo groups. On 7/22/09 > I posted a long message on the subject. > > > Basically I am not sure what size hex to use for the above > > stated RG-58A/U and BNC and TNC connectors. > > The manufacturer's docs for the connectors will specify which die size to > use. *Usually* the ferrule crimp for RG58 is 0.213". The center pin varies > a bit between manufacturers. The biggest difference with the center pins is > whether or not there is an area for the crimp close to the coax that is > smaller diameter than the rest of the cylindrical part of the pin. > Personally, I always solder the center pin, especially on cable with a solid > center conductor. > > > Also, I have a question regarding stripping the cable. I am > > not going to be doing high volumes of cables, but probably > > will be doing them on different size of coax. Would you > > recommend a stripper or will a razor knife suffice. > > A good utility knife will suffice with a little practice. > > > Lastly, and relating to the coax strippers: Don't different > > connectors, even on the same type/size of coax, need > > different stripping lengths? > > Sometimes yes. > > > This would probably translate > > into quite a few different strippers for different cables and > > connectors, no? > > Yes, it could. That's why it's worthwhile to standardize on what connectors > and tools you use. > > --- Jeff WN3A >
