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coax pictures/issue from a dealer's forum
- Thread starter GLR
- Start date
I thought the video was pretty good. I wish he would have shown more on how to do the connection right.. I would someday with more practice do my own cables and jumpers.
Mark
Mark
Yes I see that.
From what I can tell, young toughluck purchased them from that shop and instead of contacting him directly with his questions/complaints he went post mad and put those up on several highly protective forums before posting them on the site linked above.
My original post still stands though, I would like the coax experts to weigh in on this one.
Oh and as for the video, I have no audio on this computer but I look forward to viewing it later this evening. Whatever was said certainly appears to have changed people's opinions in that thread.
He talked about how most people melt the poly or foam when they solder the holes on the connector.
thanks, in my simple mind that makes sense but again I have a very limited working knowledge of these things
B
BOOTY MONSTER
Guest
im no expert at anything , except making food dissppear ............
CBrepairman said ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well hear is the deal with the coax.. First off the LL-400 uses a foam filled insulation with a metal film wrap. The foam will melt when heat is applied and this can cause the coax to be shorted. So you don't solder the center on this type of coax. I learned this the hard way... You can fill the hole with solder to make it look like you have it soldered but it will not be.
Toughluck you are talking and don't know what you are talking about. The fact is that the fit of the shield is just fine and there is no loss so the issue you have is you don't see a glob of solder in the hole. The thing you don't notice is there is no shield in the holes so solder will not help, all the shield is neatly wrapped below and you have a great fit and connection.
Do you really think I would not solder the holes if it would work, give me a brake.. You are more than welcome to put some heat to the foam if you like you will see in a hurry that what I say is fact and before you go into the this coax is junk thing you might want to realize that with the metal jacket wrap you get all the protection you need and this is why it will handle all the power it will along with the fact that it is a solid core center wire coax."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
its my understanding that a big 100 watt plus solding iron (not a soldering gun) is needed for 259's because of the very problem he mentions with the insulator melting and changing the impedance of the coax . regular ones for circuit board use take much longer th heat the 259 shell properly and allows the insulator to melt and change the relationship distance between the center and shield of the coax . maybe CBrm isnt using the right soldering iron or is but is still having issues .
saying the center conductor doesnt need to be soldered is just wrong too IMO . putting a dab of solder on the tip just to hide it since it isnt connecting the center conductor and 259 center pin doesnt help things any either .
i was a member there when it first started . had a issue with one of the mods there saying class C amps were fine for ssb and and kept deleting my post explaining why they wernt and threads asking about the deleted threads . so i quit the forum .
theres an agenda there and truthful information gets in the way of it , IMO .
CBrepairman said ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well hear is the deal with the coax.. First off the LL-400 uses a foam filled insulation with a metal film wrap. The foam will melt when heat is applied and this can cause the coax to be shorted. So you don't solder the center on this type of coax. I learned this the hard way... You can fill the hole with solder to make it look like you have it soldered but it will not be.
Toughluck you are talking and don't know what you are talking about. The fact is that the fit of the shield is just fine and there is no loss so the issue you have is you don't see a glob of solder in the hole. The thing you don't notice is there is no shield in the holes so solder will not help, all the shield is neatly wrapped below and you have a great fit and connection.
Do you really think I would not solder the holes if it would work, give me a brake.. You are more than welcome to put some heat to the foam if you like you will see in a hurry that what I say is fact and before you go into the this coax is junk thing you might want to realize that with the metal jacket wrap you get all the protection you need and this is why it will handle all the power it will along with the fact that it is a solid core center wire coax."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
its my understanding that a big 100 watt plus solding iron (not a soldering gun) is needed for 259's because of the very problem he mentions with the insulator melting and changing the impedance of the coax . regular ones for circuit board use take much longer th heat the 259 shell properly and allows the insulator to melt and change the relationship distance between the center and shield of the coax . maybe CBrm isnt using the right soldering iron or is but is still having issues .
saying the center conductor doesnt need to be soldered is just wrong too IMO . putting a dab of solder on the tip just to hide it since it isnt connecting the center conductor and 259 center pin doesnt help things any either .
i was a member there when it first started . had a issue with one of the mods there saying class C amps were fine for ssb and and kept deleting my post explaining why they wernt and threads asking about the deleted threads . so i quit the forum .
theres an agenda there and truthful information gets in the way of it , IMO .
I'm sure the author of that video is competent in other ways, but not very competent in soldering coax connectors on 'foam' coax. The only 'trick' is applying enough heat for the shortest amount of time.
There are several 'trick' that can be used. Probably the easiest is to pre-tin that reducer, makes things a lot easier and takes less time to solder to it correctly. Another 'trick' is to cool that connector after heating it.
As far as not soldering that center conductor... Why not? Same things, proper amount of heat for the shortest time. Then cool it.
As for the double shielded coax. Leaving that foil exposed so that it coul make contact with anything is not exactly the smartest thing you can do. Trim it even with the 'folded-back' braided shield.
One 'trick' with doing the soldering on the center conductor is make that inner insulation 'work' for you. Assemble the connector and before soldering the center conductor very, very slightly pull it out of the connector just a smidgen. That makes the inner insulation of the coax sort of pull up into the center pin (not really, but it does eliminate any space between the coax's inner insulation and the center insulator of the PL-259. Keep that center conductor pulled out till you've cooled that solder joint, then trim to length.
Preparing surfaces that will be soldered is a very good idea. Clean, abrade a bit, and use flux.
Watch someone who'z done this sort of thingy and you'll see most of those 'tricks'.
And lastly... It make a big difference where you do all that soldering on of connectors. If you are out of the weather (which means wind), a large'ish soldering iron/gun work okay. If you are out in the weather (wind), you'd be better off using a torch. 'Course, that means you have to know how to use that torch to solder to start with.
All it takes is practice. If you just happen to have one of the old-time Amphenol PL-259's with the 'bakelite' center insulation, you might be surprized at how often you can practice with them without melting anything. I love'em! I've re-used one or two of them longer than some people here have been alive.
And no, I'm not an expert.
- 'Doc
There are several 'trick' that can be used. Probably the easiest is to pre-tin that reducer, makes things a lot easier and takes less time to solder to it correctly. Another 'trick' is to cool that connector after heating it.
As far as not soldering that center conductor... Why not? Same things, proper amount of heat for the shortest time. Then cool it.
As for the double shielded coax. Leaving that foil exposed so that it coul make contact with anything is not exactly the smartest thing you can do. Trim it even with the 'folded-back' braided shield.
One 'trick' with doing the soldering on the center conductor is make that inner insulation 'work' for you. Assemble the connector and before soldering the center conductor very, very slightly pull it out of the connector just a smidgen. That makes the inner insulation of the coax sort of pull up into the center pin (not really, but it does eliminate any space between the coax's inner insulation and the center insulator of the PL-259. Keep that center conductor pulled out till you've cooled that solder joint, then trim to length.
Preparing surfaces that will be soldered is a very good idea. Clean, abrade a bit, and use flux.
Watch someone who'z done this sort of thingy and you'll see most of those 'tricks'.
And lastly... It make a big difference where you do all that soldering on of connectors. If you are out of the weather (which means wind), a large'ish soldering iron/gun work okay. If you are out in the weather (wind), you'd be better off using a torch. 'Course, that means you have to know how to use that torch to solder to start with.
All it takes is practice. If you just happen to have one of the old-time Amphenol PL-259's with the 'bakelite' center insulation, you might be surprized at how often you can practice with them without melting anything. I love'em! I've re-used one or two of them longer than some people here have been alive.
And no, I'm not an expert.
- 'Doc
IMO cbrepairman is full of shit. 
I have used Belden 8214 foam core coax for years and years and I solder the centre pin as well as all four holes in the shield connector and I have NEVER had one fail on me yet. Believe me in 30+ years of radio I have installed more than a few connectors.Foam core does melt a lot faster than the polyethylene core types but if you are competent with a soldering iron it can be done correctly. BTW Doc is correct about how to do it. Use a very hot iron tip with lots of mass to hold the heat and heat the connection quickly. Apply solder and remove the heat as soon as possible. I have even had a pair of pliers or vise grips handy to hold the connector to help sink the heat after soldering the cable.
BTW I like the sound of his clothes dryer running in the background of the video.:laugh: After seeing how he soldered the holes in the connector I am convinced he does not know how to solder. All it was a four little balls of solder that were not even bonded to the shell of the connector. Also he does not mention that the heliax cable requires connectors that are in fact soldered to the center pin while the shield part screws on and clamps down.
I have used Belden 8214 foam core coax for years and years and I solder the centre pin as well as all four holes in the shield connector and I have NEVER had one fail on me yet. Believe me in 30+ years of radio I have installed more than a few connectors.Foam core does melt a lot faster than the polyethylene core types but if you are competent with a soldering iron it can be done correctly. BTW Doc is correct about how to do it. Use a very hot iron tip with lots of mass to hold the heat and heat the connection quickly. Apply solder and remove the heat as soon as possible. I have even had a pair of pliers or vise grips handy to hold the connector to help sink the heat after soldering the cable.BTW I like the sound of his clothes dryer running in the background of the video.:laugh: After seeing how he soldered the holes in the connector I am convinced he does not know how to solder. All it was a four little balls of solder that were not even bonded to the shell of the connector. Also he does not mention that the heliax cable requires connectors that are in fact soldered to the center pin while the shield part screws on and clamps down.
B
BOOTY MONSTER
Guest
if he didnt leave so much of the foil and foam on the tip then he would have a double layer of braided shield , plus the outer jacket and the foil all protecting the foam from the heat of properly applying the 259's . this is a great example of how cb missinformation gets put out to the masses , gobbled up and regurgated back on and on and on and on......