G'day, Under what normal operation usage does a coax connector suffer sufficient stress to mechanically break it? I've seen connections fail due to incorrect installation but mechanical breakage due to poor design, never, at least not on the products I have or would use. To imply that Amphenol is the only maker of a quality component is nonsense. I accept that if you buy Amphenol, Suhner, Greenpar, Aircom, Andrew or similar badged products you know it will most likely be quality. However, it's not rocket science and there are undoubtedly many competent manufacturers out there perhaps without the Mil spec or domestic USA labour rate overheads. There will always be junk, unfortunately some folks just might not recognise it as such.
My 6m feeder has US, German and unknown origin fittings in its run, nothing has failed or deteriorated or shown any signs of overheating during high power eme operation. My tower is a telescopic/fold over model so regular maintenance checks are easy and something I'm used to doing after a career in the rf business, LF to C-band. Personally, I find the coax terminations within the K3 unappealing but I'm not going to die in a ditch over it. Regards, Mike VP8NO ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Brown" <j...@audiosystemsgroup.com> Cc: "Reflector Elecraft" <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 6:59 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Intermittently loses gain > On 11/1/2010 9:37 AM, Mike Harris wrote: >> I have not been let down by the items I've bought from "The >> RF Connection". > > I have bought some really lousy junk connectors from the RF > Connection, > and when I tried to get real tech info from them on coax they > wanted to > sell to a DXpedition, I got nothing but a salesman's bluster. > >> I have paid 2-3 times as much for Amphenol barrels > > Yes, Amphenol is more expensive than cheap junk. How much does it > cost > to get someone to climb a tower? How much do you spend to go on a > DXpedition? How much time do you lose chasing intermittent > problems? >> but not found them any better than good quality imports. > > How would you KNOW if they are any good or not? Have you cut one > open > to see what it looks like? Have you done any serious power tests? > Have > you done serious loss or reflection measurements? Have you put > stress > on them to break them mechanically? > > I used them in my station and nothing blew up (yet)? That isn't a > real > test, it's luck. > > 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
