OT: SO-239 Connector Selection

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OT: SO-239 Connector Selection

Edward R Cole
Since most of you are talking about HF, I suppose they are fine.

Professionally, I had the most quality control issues with
PL-259's.  I quickly decided that only Amphenol brand were to be
bought.  They had much better plating for soldering.  The problem
usually came from the extra heat required to solder the shield.  Very
easy to melt the insulation.  All our antenna were specified with
N-connectors which have gaskets the provide some wx sealing.  Of
course we double taped connections that would be outside.

Anything that requires good impedance match will do better with N,
TNC, or 7/16 style connectors.

All my cables even down to 500-KHz use N-connector except where
connection with a radio or commercial antenna come with UHF.

73, Ed - KL7UW
at 1296 up I often use sma connectors on low-power equipment.

------------------------------

Message: 13
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:54:43 -0000
From: "Ken Kopp" <[hidden email]>
Subject: [Elecraft] OT: SO-239 Connector Selection
To: <[hidden email]>
Message-ID: <ACDEF2099BE54AADB7632B69E498BEDD@shack>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
         reply-type=response


My experience with SO-239' / PL-259's -was- at
VHF and UHF, and I said so in my posting.

I was made aware of this when the Colorado Springs
radio club ordered a 4-port divider to feed their 2M
repeater's antennas and they specified / insisted on
me building it with SO-239's.  I shipped it and within
a few days they were complaining of high SWR.

Before getting the original one back I built and
shipped a second unit, only to get the same report.
It was only when I built the 3rd unit with N's did it work
correctly.

My friends at the NBS labs ... who originated NBS
yagi design (W0PW / W0EYE) ... along with the
particular power divider design ... explained
what was going on.  The non-50 ohm SO-239's
connected to the 35 ohm transmission line / power
divider were influencing the impedance of divider.

My years at CU's radio astronomy lab and the NBS
cafeteria represent some of the best "learning" in
my career.  I learned much via napkin tutoring done
by some of the nation's best "radio" minds.

73! Ken Kopp - K0PP



73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
======================================
BP40IQ   500 KHz - 10-GHz   www.kl7uw.com
EME: 144-QRT*, 432-100w, 1296-QRT*, 3400-fall 2010
DUBUS Magazine USA Rep [hidden email]
======================================
*temp

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Re: OT: SO-239 Connector Selection

Brett Howard
I ended up getting the "commercial" version of the connector.  There
was the cheapest one the commercial one that was only a very small
amount more and then the top one which was quite a lot more...  All
three were Amphenol connectors and I'd already gone to buy Amp but it
was just coming down to which one...  It appears that they all have
different dielectrics (they mention different values) but I didn't
really find a whole lot on the differences between these dielectric
types.

~Brett (N7MG)

On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 2:02 AM, Edward R. Cole <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Since most of you are talking about HF, I suppose they are fine.
>
> Professionally, I had the most quality control issues with
> PL-259's.  I quickly decided that only Amphenol brand were to be
> bought.  They had much better plating for soldering.  The problem
> usually came from the extra heat required to solder the shield.  Very
> easy to melt the insulation.  All our antenna were specified with
> N-connectors which have gaskets the provide some wx sealing.  Of
> course we double taped connections that would be outside.
>
> Anything that requires good impedance match will do better with N,
> TNC, or 7/16 style connectors.
>
> All my cables even down to 500-KHz use N-connector except where
> connection with a radio or commercial antenna come with UHF.
>
> 73, Ed - KL7UW
> at 1296 up I often use sma connectors on low-power equipment.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 13
> Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:54:43 -0000
> From: "Ken Kopp" <[hidden email]>
> Subject: [Elecraft] OT: SO-239 Connector Selection
> To: <[hidden email]>
> Message-ID: <ACDEF2099BE54AADB7632B69E498BEDD@shack>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
>         reply-type=response
>
>
> My experience with SO-239' / PL-259's -was- at
> VHF and UHF, and I said so in my posting.
>
> I was made aware of this when the Colorado Springs
> radio club ordered a 4-port divider to feed their 2M
> repeater's antennas and they specified / insisted on
> me building it with SO-239's.  I shipped it and within
> a few days they were complaining of high SWR.
>
> Before getting the original one back I built and
> shipped a second unit, only to get the same report.
> It was only when I built the 3rd unit with N's did it work
> correctly.
>
> My friends at the NBS labs ... who originated NBS
> yagi design (W0PW / W0EYE) ... along with the
> particular power divider design ... explained
> what was going on.  The non-50 ohm SO-239's
> connected to the 35 ohm transmission line / power
> divider were influencing the impedance of divider.
>
> My years at CU's radio astronomy lab and the NBS
> cafeteria represent some of the best "learning" in
> my career.  I learned much via napkin tutoring done
> by some of the nation's best "radio" minds.
>
> 73! Ken Kopp - K0PP
>
>
>
> 73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
> ======================================
> BP40IQ   500 KHz - 10-GHz   www.kl7uw.com
> EME: 144-QRT*, 432-100w, 1296-QRT*, 3400-fall 2010
> DUBUS Magazine USA Rep [hidden email]
> ======================================
> *temp
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
______________________________________________________________
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Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html