On 01/19/2014 10:53 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

"Bob E." wrote:

100% of the RF connectors I use for mountain top radio sites that I
deal with are crimped, not soldered.

This is where the original short length of RG6 was soldered to the pcb
antenna. It's an inexpensive broadcast TV antenna for home.

Rather than make a male crimp plus a barrel to join the 2 mailes, just solder
the long run directly to the pcb. Or so I thought...

I crimped 1/2" of center solid conductor to the braid and soldered the solid
to the pcb. It seems to work but I have no way to measure any loss. I plan to
replace this when I find some REAL copper RG6.


The loss is horrible in copper braided coax at TV frequencies. The
cost is excessive, as well. 'Headend cable' used to be silver plated
copper braided coax, but that was abandoned for foil & drain when
headends passed 216 MHz. That silver plated coax was over a dollar a
foot, in the '70s.

The easiest way to spot good headend cable was to try to bend it. It
drapes, like mic cable; not stiff.

My ham radio antennas are all 50 Ohm designs, but I do cheat on the
receive loops and repurpose old Echostar cable around the house.