coax

[M0GVZ]

because any PL-259 on ANY cable will have an impedance bump.

Really?

I use these on RG58, the Amphenol 182103.

The centre insulator of the coax fits exactly in a tube that forms the pin which is the same internal diameter of braid and is inserted at the other side of the main flange into the gap between the braid and the inner insulator thus giving a continuous ratio of inner core to outer conductor diameter throughout the whole connector to the coax, unlike the regular generic ones with the four holes, thus maintaining the impedance.

 

[W5LZ]

Do you have any idea of the number of those 'impedance bumps' the average antenna system has? Typically there are a bunch of them. But that comes down to just how large are those 'bumps' and are they (+) or (-), they come in both 'sizes' you know. In most cases all those 'bumps' aren't going to amount to anything significant at HF/VHF/UHF. If they do, then you have something significantly wrong in your antenna system besides an 'impedance bump'.
- 'Doc

 

[GnG8d]

Exactly my way of thinking. When I do an install I want to have as long a maintenance free period as I can get. I do climb but I hate doing it. The tower gets taller every year I swear.

It's 60' of tilt tower. If/when it breaks it'll take a couple minutes to lay over and lop the bad section out. By then enough will have passed that the antenna should be given a once over anyway.

But for anyone thinking of doing it, set up your slack and attachment points at the rotator center point and it'll only have to move 180* in either direction. It's hardly noticeable and doesn't twist/kink. I prefer it to a barrel and jumper section.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Really?

I use these on RG58, the Amphenol 182103.

The centre insulator of the coax fits exactly in a tube that forms the pin which is the same internal diameter of braid and is inserted at the other side of the main flange into the gap between the braid and the inner insulator thus giving a continuous ratio of inner core to outer conductor diameter throughout the whole connector to the coax, unlike the regular generic ones with the four holes, thus maintaining the impedance.

I would still have to seen the results plotted on a VNA to agree with you since I have not seen these types of PL-259 connectors.

 

[GnG8d]

From what I've read and understand, these connectors can't produce more then a tenth or so of an 'impedance bump'. A connector showing even .01dB of impedance will produce a 1/4w of heat with a 100w transceiver.

 

[LittleWhiskey]

yes can some one tell me whats the best coax to use i will be putting up a jo gun 8+8 with 2 kw i have rg 213 right now thank you for any help

That Rg-213 will work just fine and is in fact what JoGunn recommends. I am currently using JEFA Tech low loss 400 flex coax that is also very similar to LMR400 UF. You can check it out here --> JEFA Tech: Low Loss 400 Flex Coax - By The Foot . Good luck with your little project...

 

[jazzsinger]

JoGunn has their own version of physics.

I'm loving that 30 Db of Audio Gain, can't help wondering if Kale borrowed some of that shit and sprinkled it liberally on the new Bad to the Bone (LMAO, but not as good as a 30 buck 1/4 wave whip) Predators ?

Love how they highlight the word TRUE so often, cause its ironic they are using it truly fucking loosely, I think they have friends in Solarcon and Zetagi

Although i must admit I can't see an 8+8 getting outdone with a moxon. A bit like comparing a dv27 to a Sirio hy power 4000 or an A99 to anything that remotely resembles a good antenna .

 

[jazzsinger]

Yes, the center conductor of LMR-400 is copper plated aluminum. It's a very good feed line at VHF/UHF, not particularly beneficial at HF. It does have slightly better loss ratings than most other coax at HF, but that is a fractional improvement, not a very huge one at all. Depending on the length of the run, almost any coax will do fine at HF (that can be significant though for longer runs). As suggested, RG-213 would certainly work, but so would RG-8. You have to balance the amount of loss with the cost of the cable. Then you decide which is best for you.
- 'Doc

Can you explain to me the difference between RG8 AND RG213/U, as I was led to believe when the US military redesignated their cables RG213/U became the new Mil-c-17 spec that replaced RG8 which i believe is no longer a mil spec, infact neither is Mil-c-17 now as I believe that has been redesignated as M17. and all new RG213/u Cables will bare the M17/74 mark as RG58C/U ones will be M17/028.

Real Rg8 died decades ago.

 

[jazzsinger]

Capt. Kilowatt you got my mind churning now. May put this ldf4 I have to use. Put a couple of n-male connectors on an be good to go!!

Why not, a couple of connectors and your sorted, not as if you have to buy it, may as well get the use out it, and if you use uhf or vhf even better used there. Alternatively send me it as i can only dream of using it and i'll put it too good use , lol

 

[jazzsinger]

Really?

I use these on RG58, the Amphenol 182103.

The centre insulator of the coax fits exactly in a tube that forms the pin which is the same internal diameter of braid and is inserted at the other side of the main flange into the gap between the braid and the inner insulator thus giving a continuous ratio of inner core to outer conductor diameter throughout the whole connector to the coax, unlike the regular generic ones with the four holes, thus maintaining the impedance.

Conor I'm assuming you got them at knights as only place in uk that I know that sells them, i've got a handful in the bags next to real quality 5mm Greenpar ps gland ones, which are proper class.

I don't know what Doug or one of his assistants most likely told you Conor, but they are the cheapest form of pl259 Amphenol make/made, and strictly speaking are for temporary use if you get a breakage in the field, they are as far from quality as you get, they use a pish poor clamping system and centre can be crimped or soldered, now bare in mind if it fits in the center of the pin, the outer diameter of pin is wrong for constant impedance, they are very cheap and just as nasty as some of the pishier ones on the market, but they do for firing an emg patch lead or botch job out in the field.

Amphenol invented the ,PL259 (a military designation, not Amphenol's original part number which was 83-1sp), I'd now advise the 83-822 with Teflon dielectric and a
silver plating, much easier to solder especially working on foam dielectric cables.

a ug175/u reducer can be used with them for Rg58 cu / M17/028 and Rg59u,Rg223/u and a couple of URM cables, URM43 and 76 it is, if i recall, Uniradio was the UK British Standard equivalent to USA's mil spec Rg range, which stands for Radio Gauge. IIRC URM67 is the RG213/U equivalent.

or a ug176/u for rg6, rg mini 8 etc 6mm dia cables

but when you get to cable like LMR 400 and Andrew Heliax hardline you want to be using constant impedance plugs like N or BNC , even the original 83-1sp was never constant impedance.

I wish I could back you on those Amphenol plugs and would have with 83-1sp or 83-822 but those are the most basic Amphenol Plugs made and they used to be pennies,iirc I paid about 50p each for them as spares in an emergency, proper ones can range anywhere from 3 - 6 quid per plug depending where and if you can get them.

Generic plugs as you call them are generally brass/nickel plated inferior copies, seen other metals too, and foreign cheap imports of the original Amphenol 83-1sp, which the US Military designated UHF PL259. Believe it or not back in the day they were considered fit for use on UHF, as no N plugs existed then.


CK you are right, don't bother wasting your time trying to source one to VNA it, your VNA would go into mode. I've had them for years and pretty certain Conor got them off Doug who I know well, as I've never seen any other uk dealer advertise them in last 20 years and Conor lives near enough to visit, I've dealt with him occasionally for 20 years, his prices are a bit high and his descriptions aren't always accurate in his catalogues, but he carries a good range of CB gear, and is a pretty decent/reliable guy to deal with, I think Conor may have read up on Amphenol and came to wrong conclusion they are proper 83-1sp plugs, but they are high quality Amphenol / low price back up ones for rg58 and other 5mm cables. Compared to most of the wrong size imported plugs you get in most cb shops here, in Conor's defence they probably are far superior, that's why i bought a few as back up 15 year ago.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Careful George. This is where Conner will post links to all his awards and say that they must be good because L :: K!

 

[jazzsinger]

Careful George. This is where Conner will post links to all his awards and say that they must be good because L :: K!

I'm sure Conor knows me well enough that when it comes to cable and connectors I know my shit and have done for 100011 years, guess I'm one of the ten, lmao

I know exactly what they are I have about 1/2 a dozen in sealed bags here, and I'd swap them all for one 83-822, or one decent N plug. or one 1000 11 - 1000 10 10, lmao

I've had many run ins with Conor in the past, and no doubt we will disagree in the future, but he is learning from the man who first asked me questions about 7 years ago on TM1, and is less arrogant when wrong these days,

I'm sure if he knew you were a broadcast engineer with more years service than I've had illegal radio's or burners he wouldn't be disputing your facts Garth. Many a time you've put me right on some aspects of our hobby I perceived wrongly, there's not many I learn from, but I count you as one of them, despite any minor, lol disputes we've had in the past,

The secret is to be always openminded no matter how good you are in one or more branches of this hobby of ours, there will be others you either suck at or are not so strong on, I've never met anyone in 100011 years of radio that knows it all, it is just far too vast and even by the very best at times misunderstood hobby for any one person to know it all.

one look at the flange on those plugs which isn't uniform at the tip tell's you it will give an impedance bump right there.


I had 10 cable engineers in my house and asked them all the same question, why staple my rg6 to the wall and cause impedance bumps all along the run, 9 didn't know wtf I was talking about, and only the head of the network team, a nice big South African guy could answer my question, because its cheaper/faster than proper cable grips, and they all look bemused when there's a reverse tilt on input signal. I talked nice big guy into running 3 seperate feeds to my house instead of one with a 3 way splitter, surprise surprise no tilt and had to fit attenuators to each box as front end was overloading, I even had him do a brand new RG11 pull to street network box, boy did I have a shit hot picture, lmao

I had an even better one when I went from 1 box to 2 and installer set it all up and I said you won't get a picture in my bedroom, he was like trust me mate, I know what I'm doing, been doing it for years, to which i replied, Badly, lol, anyway telly in living room fires up fine, but then shock horror he hits the bedroom and I'm standing laughing as I watch this expert try to get a signal and box wouldn't lock, he stood there scratching his head,

I said told you it wouldn't work didn't I? He was mesmerised, he does this for a living and some average Joe has just proved him wrong, how can that be, like Conor underestimated you he did likewise with me, I said I've been in radio 35 years (stick with decimal for now, lol) and I know the difference between a splitter and a TV/FM Broadcast band diplexer, just too wind him up I unplugged the telly and stuck cable in my f plug to hifi FM Stereo socket convertor and let him hear Radio Clyde sweet as a nut.

He looked at me and said where did I go wrong? I said you installed a diplexer instead of a splitter, go change that and leave me 2 diplexers for my hifi's,

I've never seen anyone in such a hurry to leave my house, outwith me launching them. In fairness to him both were identical casings, it was the internals that were different, he did let me play with his rg6 and compression f plug tool mind and make up a few freebie extensions, lol

believe it or not that was with virgin media, the largest phone, cable and broadband provider in the UK. I let him look behind my TV/HIFI, he was like wtf?

everything is interconnected,TWIN TAPE, CD, GRAPHIC EQUALISER, 7.2 CH AMP, PS1, PS2, PS3, WII, WII U, TIVO, DEDICATED PC, SVHS VCR, BLU RAY, DVD not to mention 5 speakers and sub, still 2 side surround to go up and everything is wired the best way possible, for video,analogue and digital sound, oh and 2 ext hdd's to go with the 2 inbuilt ones.

His face was priceless. My bedroom has almost the identical system minus a couple of consoles but with a few different ones, still need to rewire all that, got it all in, just getting the motivation to do it.

Don't matter if I'm doing radio, hifi or pc's, i do it properly, its the only way a jobs worth doing.

73 Jazz 1001001

 

[M0GVZ]

Conor I'm assuming you got them at knights as only place in uk that I know that sells them, i've got a handful in the bags next to real quality 5mm Greenpar ps gland ones, which are proper class.

I don't buy anything from Knights any more. He sells nowt but shite and I wouldn't trust the ones he sells to be the proper thing. I bought them mail order from Mouser.com, shipped direct from the USA. Took about a week to arrive.

Amphenol invented the ,PL259 (a military designation, not Amphenol's original part number which was 83-1sp), I'd now advise the 83-822 with Teflon dielectric and a
silver plating,

Those I posted the image of were bought for RG58 patch leads. What I'm using on the main run to the antenna etc is the 83-1SPs I ordered at the same time on the RG213, and they are silver plate as you said and its a dream soldering the case to the braid in the four holes. Won't be using anything else.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I've never seen anyone in such a hurry to leave my house, outwith me launching them. In fairness to him both were identical casings, it was the internals that were different, he did let me play with his rg6 and compression f plug tool mind and make up a few freebie extensions, lol

73 Jazz 1001001

He probably felt safer knowing that you were preoccupied amusing yourself instead of watching his every move and waiting to pounce on him. :laugh:

 

[jazzsinger]

He probably felt safer knowing that you were preoccupied amusing yourself instead of watching his every move and waiting to pounce on him. :laugh:

Probably, Lmao, I hate shoddy workmanship, i watched a carpet layer lay linoleum for 10 mins 15 years ago, have laid all carpets/lino myself ever since, i learn fast, especially if it involves saving money, the people who taught me about pc's 7 years ago, bring them to me now to get fixed, i only learned that cause my cousin gave my son one and knew it would cost me a fortune if i didn't learn it, anything i can't do i learn, even if i have tpo pay someone to do it i can watch. frugal Glaswegian, lol.