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DOUBLE PL-259 CONNECTOR
- Thread starter Sonar
- Start date
Male to male? I had some cheap Rat Shack ones 15-20 years ago or so, that the center pins wiggled a lot. Odd. For just a little more cash I got something better, maybe not Amphenol, but functional with solidly-placed components.
Female to female, never had a problem with something cheap.
Female to female, never had a problem with something cheap.
I ass-u-me you mean a barrel connector to connect two PL-259 connectors together as if joining two pieces of coax together. YES there is a difference, Do you NEED that difference? Maybe. If you are running any power than the better quality connectors are the choice to get. There is DEFINITELY a difference between quality Amphenol connectors and the crap from Radio Shack or most Chinese imports. The centre insulator is usually Teflon versus cheap white plastic and the better connectors are usually silver plated versus cheap nickle-chrome plated brass.
The only issue I've had with the cheap ones is the threaded part coming off if you over tighten them..... like I tend to do.
I have had fitting issues usually where the male part fits loosely into the female part. I don't like loose electrical connections.
Have you now? I think they make a pill for that.
Thanks captain. I purchased the Amphonal 83-877. ImIglad I misplaced the one I had. I'm sure I don't pay more than $5 for it.
It will be used the connect my MFJ 915 (rf choke.)
There will be some power going through it (500-700.) I had a high swr issue and thought it might've been the my mfj 915 RF choke so I disconected.it. it turned out to be a poor jumper (pl259) connector. My imax 2000 will finally be going from the 8' off the ground to 30'.
The mfj 915 worked as it should suppressing RFI. It was probably the best money I ever spent (on an mfj item.) I thought about having someone wind a choke for me but I got so many different suggestions as to how one should wind it I went with the 915. It had excellent eham reviews. And worked out great for me as I never had a single complaint while It was in line. My neighbor recently was taking over for a guitar player in a wedding band who fell I'll. My neighbor had to practice some songs and I was coming over his fender amplifier. He was actually a member of that band and practiced almost every day after work and never once did I come over his amplifier while the 915 was inline. The sick guitar player recovered and my neighbor no longer has any need to practice playing guitar. I still don't want to take any chances upsetting any other neighbors although that has never happened before. The 915 obviously works and I'm trying my best to undo all the poor installation decisions I made when I first returned to the airwaves about four years ago. Thanks. 73
LOL
Captian you walked right into that one!
73
Jeff
See......this is why I shouldn't make posts while under the influence of alcohol. I only had three drinks but my shot glass doubles as a 5 ounce Anchor and Hocking measuring cup. It's the one in the middle. 
You can take two PL-259 connectors and solder them back to back, first soldering a wire into one of them, and threading into the other one and solder it holding the two connectors together. Then solder the backs of the two connectors after being tinned with solder. Takes a 100 watt plus soldering iron or gun.
Jay in the Great Mojave Desert
Jay in the Great Mojave Desert
I've had that issue with the cheap female connectors. It was just loose enough to cause an intermittent swr warning. Going forward I'll only buy the amphenol connectors.
I just use a funnel
I too would get the intermittent SWR warnings. It not only came in the form of my Madison's high SWR (redl warnning light but I'd see an exsreamly quick high swr spike on my Autek wm1's swr meter.
Thinking back I'm fairly certain that stopped when I removed the MFJ 915 rf choke. Of course I had to also remove the double barrel pl259 connector when I removed the 915. Considering I paid approximately $3 and change for that double barrel connector I actually wouldn't be surprised if it was that connector causing not all but some of my high SWR issues. I took Captain kilowatts advice and went for the Amphanol 37-388.
I was suprisurp at the high cost of the Amphanol but do believe one gets what they pay for.
I compared the price from RF Parts, DX engineering, and another outlet. I don't recall the exact price that RF parts was offering that item for but it was substantially more than DX engineering even with the high cost of shipping such a small part. The second outlet offered that part for even more money then RF parts did. The final cost with shipping was $31 and change. The double barrel pl259 adapter was $19 and change. The rest of the $31 came from shipping cost. DX engineering offered free shipping had I spent another $79. I tried my best to think if there was anything else I needed that would add that $79 to the final cost. $19 and change for the AmphsAmp 37-388 double barrel pl259 without having to pay shipping would've been a terrific deal. There were so many things I did wrong in a rush to get on the air (4 year's ago) that all I want to do is everything in my power to get what will be as close as possible to hooking up an 11 meter station anyone would be happy to own.
I'm putting all the knowledge that I gained on this very site (wwdx) over the past 4 year's to good use.
ImI still learning every day. That's why I asked if it mattered which double barrel pl259 I used. I'm definitely not shy to ask what others might think to be a common-sense question. I didn't realize how important it was to get something like the product produced by Amphanol as opposed to something I could have purchased and did buy the first time around on eBay for a few dollars. The double barrel pl259 might be a very small item. But its importance to the way it was produced is obviously something that needed to be taken into consideration . This will be out in the weather in the Northeast. And going from one extreme to cold heat rain snow ice and everything in between is why I didn't mind spending $31. I could easily imagine how a $3 item might not hold up as compared the much more expensive well built Amphanol. I'm sure that part will do its job for many years without issue.
I've also learned how important it is to use that protective coax/connector tape. I purchased a roll of it a couple of months back. I knew that my friend 808 would be properly installing two brand-new pl259's on my station to antennas LMR 400 cable and wanted to do everything I could to ensure I Iwould get the best performance out of not only something as important as correctly installing pl259's but anything else that would improve or eliminate possible problems such as moisture and or water getting into the coax. The coax tape is just another example of something one can do that might not seem significant but in the end should help everything exposed to the elements last longer and work properly. I can't thank the members of this site enough for sharing all their gained knowledge and answering my questions no matter how asinine they might seem. For someone like myself who cannot work on their own equipment because of a disability I thought it would be okay to know as little as possible and not really care about the technical side of our hobby. I must say that I was totally wrong. Just because one cannot work on their own equipment doesn't mean they should not know as much as they can when it comes to the technical side of things. 4 years ago I rushed into everything and made plenty of mistakes. This time I am taking it slow and doing everything I can to make sure that I use my knowledge and the help of friends to do everything as best as I can and as correctly. I am positive that any problems that arose with amplifiers and transceivers was due to the rush I used 4 years ago to get everything up and going without really caring if it was done correctly. I probably could have saved a lot of money and amplifier and transceiver repair had I done my homework first and did everything correctly the first time around. Live and learn is definitely the lesson here. And I do believe I learned it well. Thanks to all the members of what I believe to be the best site for our hobby anywhere on the internet. I'm certainly looking forward to finally getting my IMAX 2000 up in the air approximately 30 ft where it belongs as opposed to its current 8'. I don't know exactly what type of gain I will get on receive and the transmitted but I am certain there will be gained on both ends. If it's one s unit on transmitted and one on receive I'd be happier than a pig in Doo Doo. If it happens to be more then a single s unit that would be terrific. But we all know how tremendous a1 s unit gain will be. I have no intentions and never will be running anything close 2000 watts. and from what I'm running now that's exactly what it would take to gain an s unit. I hope that any newbies happened to read this post and understand how important it is to do things right the first time. It will not only save you time but money and lots of it in the long run. 73's my friends. PS. Happy Easter to all who celebrate.
Maybe Not.I have several Double Ended PL-259 connectors & Barrel Connectors they are 100% different.
SIX-SHOOTER
