Sean, I have installed many hundreds of coaxial connectors over the past 40 years, and I have come to prefer crimp/crimp connectors for all critical work. Based on my own experience and the recommendations of several others who do similar work, I now use only connectors made by RF Industries. I have found that they are of consistently high quality, and they maintain impedance very well- a design goal of both N and BNC connectors. Although RFI does make a slightly cheaper line of N and BNC connectors that have nickel plating and Delrin dielectric, I tend to stick with the silver-plated connectors and Teflon dielectric. The center pins are always gold plated.
The hex crimping tool costs about $100 in a kit with the dies needed for RG-142 and RG-214, and a commercial cable prep tool for stripping each layer of the cable will run another $75 or so. Many people will balk at having to spend the money to get the proper tools, but the end results are really worth it. I take great pride in my repeater installations, and you won't find any inter-series adapters used at all. It makes for a classy (OK, that's just my own opinion!) installation when all of the jumpers are exactly the right length, and have the correct mating connectors on each end. If the cable will not be moved once installed, RG-142/U cable is okay, but be aware that it has a solid steel center conductor that can (and often does) crack over time due to fatigue. RG-400/U cable is exactly the same in appearance and performance as RG-142/U, except that it has a stranded and silver-plated copper center conductor. For the record, I have no financial interest in RF Industries, Inc. 73, Eric Lemmon WB6FLY Sean KE6MOW wrote: > > I am interested in getting opinions on which type of coaxial connectors > are prefered and why. > > Coax will be RG-142 & RG-214 used as jumper/interconnect cables. > Connectors will be BNC & N. > > Thanks, > Sean > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
