On 10/30/2010 2:13 PM, Ron W3ZV wrote: > That leaves a couple of > coax connectors, a balun and the ladder line feed. Sounds like the next > step is a quick and dirty antenna to the RX antenna input.
Step #1 -- VERY IMPORTANT. Look at every coax adapter anywhere in your station. If it does not say Amphenol on it, or if it does not have a UG number on it, THROW IT AWAY. I'm talking barrels, Tees, Elbows, UHF to BNC, UHF to N, etc. The unbranded connectors you buy at hamfests and from ham dealers are almost always made very cheaply, often fall apart, often go intermittent, and often overheat and fail. When I got back on the air in 2003 after a long period of inactivity, I restocked with these junk connectors, not knowing any better. Over the next several years, I experienced at nearly a dozen intermittents and failures that I eventually tracked down to one of them. REAL Amphenol connectors and adapters are one of the things I always look for at hamfests flea markets, but I couldn't find enough of them for my station, so a few years ago, I bit the bullet and bought a bunch of the real thing new from Allied. Some examples of the failures. 1) intermittent connections at the coax barrel spacing two lengths of coax feeding an antenna; 2) a Tee connector that came with a stacking harness for 6M antennas fell apart; 3) an elbow connecting coax to my antenna tuner overheated after about one hour of contest operation -- SWR went very high and the connector was VERY hot when I touched it because the wire inside was a tiny spring; 4) I've had at least four BNC to UHF or UHF to N connectors fall apart. In the world of pro audio where I made my living, we see MANY problems with junk audio connectors. The good stuff costs more to make, so they costs more to buy. When they fail, they can cost a lot of time and trouble. Sometimes they only cause an inconvenience, but sometimes they can cause something to break, or cause you to have to climb a tower to replace a bad one. Bottom line -- connectors are a terrible place to play cheap. 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
