I will never crimp on anything over 10 Ft above the Ground , I have been soldering Connectors for over 40 Years But I had read how nice and convenient it was just to buy some Good Crimp on tools , Dies , Coax Cutters Etc. I spent about $ 200.00
Put the Coax cutter on the LMR-400 Cable turned it a couple of Times , then turned it Over turned it again WOW Perfect , Pushed it right up on the Connecter and crimped it all up Then I attached to My comet GP-15 Tri Band Vert Wrapped nice Scotch tape around it Then I climbed up in a Tree and put ot up 70 Ft . It was cold and late in the evening But I was so excited to Hook up To My Kenwood TS-2000 Which I did and I had No receive but for some local strong repeater that was in the noise. Well about a Week later in the Cold I took it all down and found that the Crimp on connecter the coax had pulled out of the ant just enough to not work , And I had even had a Small loop Taped at that point to keep it in . So I Just put all the fancy tools away and got a Good Amphenol Connector and soldered it on Put it back up and Everything is still working great. Number one always use Good Connecter like Amphenol, I have made a Few Crimp on Jumper cables but never on any Ant that I cannot reach , I am just sharing My experience others may have better luck, And I "am not saying I did everything right but I do know they were not Amphenol or good quality connectors , But it is not easy to climb trees and put up antennas at 63 Yrs old PS went to a Ham Fest once and a guy had Gold and Silver plated PL-259 Connectors 20 for $ 10.00 Dollars I looked to see what Brand No name on them, I always and everyone should take time to look under the tables, He had a Box of about 50 tarnished Amphenol Connectors I was looking through them and He ask You like the old dirty ones , I said yes I could just clean them up, He said well You can have the whole box for $ 5.00 Dollars I gave Him the money and Smiled all day at the hamfest . Don KA9QJG From: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com [mailto:repeater-buil...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of hitekgearhead Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 4:39 PM To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Re: crimping assistance please 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 Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com <mailto:Repeater-Builder%40yahoogroups.com> , "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 >