![]() |
|
PL-259 connectors VHF UHF
|
PL-259 connectors VHF UHF
In article ,
(Larry W4CSC) wrote: The PL-259 connector used to be called the "UHF connector" because it came on UHF FM radios way back after WW2. I think RCA was to blame for that one, but it might have been ol' Batwing. There is only one SO-239 (female) and PL-259 (male) connector set. The screw-in ferrules to shrink up the 3/4" coax hole to RG-58 and RG-59 are different, though. None of them are "water proof", unfortunately. None of them are a good match on any coax cable they don't screw directly onto, either, like RG-8 or 213. They're "acceptable" on RG 58 and 59 and 6 and 8X for our purposes and their biggest benefit is anyone with simple soldering irons can put them together with little skill, unlike proper 'N' or 'BNC' or 'SMA' connectors we SHOULD be using. On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 16:05:22 GMT, wrote: Can someone tell me if there is a PL-259 connector for UHF and a different one for VHF? I got a 259 from Radio Shack that was labeled for UHF. It looked the same to me so I installed it, along with a Shakespeare VHF antenna for a VHF marine band radio. Would not transmit, but had a steady clicking from the speaker when mike was open. I returned the radio to the factory for repair under warrenty, and when returned was told the radio performed at factory specs, and to check the installation. So, now I'm stumped, and hate to try anything else without knowing what's going on. A SWR meter check would not help at this point. Thanks for any help. Helmer Larry W4CSC 3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right? One Very Nice Feature(tm) of the Digital Antenna products is that they provide cables pre-terminated with TNC connectors which are only marginally larger than the quality marine 8X they ship. they then provide a PL-259 "adapter" which the TNC screws into to terminate in an SO-259. saves MUCH grief fishing the cable and saves the work of terminating it yourself. they claim providing pre-terminated cables saves them lots of support time. a win all around as far as i'm concerned. I have no affiliation with Digital Antenna other than as a satisfied owner of 4 of their antennas: 2x 8' Marine VHF, an 8' cell stick, and their big SSB pole. cheers, -mo |
PL-259 connectors VHF UHF
Good advise! I'll check it out. What about their masthead antennas?
Doug "Michael O'Dell" wrote in message ... In article , (Larry W4CSC) wrote: The PL-259 connector used to be called the "UHF connector" because it came on UHF FM radios way back after WW2. I think RCA was to blame for that one, but it might have been ol' Batwing. There is only one SO-239 (female) and PL-259 (male) connector set. The screw-in ferrules to shrink up the 3/4" coax hole to RG-58 and RG-59 are different, though. None of them are "water proof", unfortunately. None of them are a good match on any coax cable they don't screw directly onto, either, like RG-8 or 213. They're "acceptable" on RG 58 and 59 and 6 and 8X for our purposes and their biggest benefit is anyone with simple soldering irons can put them together with little skill, unlike proper 'N' or 'BNC' or 'SMA' connectors we SHOULD be using. On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 16:05:22 GMT, wrote: Can someone tell me if there is a PL-259 connector for UHF and a different one for VHF? I got a 259 from Radio Shack that was labeled for UHF. It looked the same to me so I installed it, along with a Shakespeare VHF antenna for a VHF marine band radio. Would not transmit, but had a steady clicking from the speaker when mike was open. I returned the radio to the factory for repair under warrenty, and when returned was told the radio performed at factory specs, and to check the installation. So, now I'm stumped, and hate to try anything else without knowing what's going on. A SWR meter check would not help at this point. Thanks for any help. Helmer Larry W4CSC 3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right? One Very Nice Feature(tm) of the Digital Antenna products is that they provide cables pre-terminated with TNC connectors which are only marginally larger than the quality marine 8X they ship. they then provide a PL-259 "adapter" which the TNC screws into to terminate in an SO-259. saves MUCH grief fishing the cable and saves the work of terminating it yourself. they claim providing pre-terminated cables saves them lots of support time. a win all around as far as i'm concerned. I have no affiliation with Digital Antenna other than as a satisfied owner of 4 of their antennas: 2x 8' Marine VHF, an 8' cell stick, and their big SSB pole. cheers, -mo |
PL-259 connectors VHF UHF
Check for a short curcuit in the PL259.
wrote in message ... This is all helpful, but any explanation for the clicking noise? Helmer On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 16:05:22 GMT, wrote: Can someone tell me if there is a PL-259 connector for UHF and a different one for VHF? I got a 259 from Radio Shack that was labeled for UHF. It looked the same to me so I installed it, along with a Shakespeare VHF antenna for a VHF marine band radio. Would not transmit, but had a steady clicking from the speaker when mike was open. I returned the radio to the factory for repair under warrenty, and when returned was told the radio performed at factory specs, and to check the installation. So, now I'm stumped, and hate to try anything else without knowing what's going on. A SWR meter check would not help at this point. Thanks for any help. Helmer |
PL-259 connectors VHF UHF
Good advise so far.....a single antenna installation should use 50 ohm coax
to match the output impedance of the radio to the input impedance of the antenna. RG8/X is not suitable for VHF (very high freq.) or UHF (ultra high freq.) because of the inherent attenuation at thes freq. The attenuation in db. could be so high with CB style coax as to completely null a weak or low powered signal at high freq. Clean,soldered terminations are critical at VHF and UHF , the antenna should be grounded to the closest non-ferrous metal using copper braid, the reason for braid is that RF currents flow on the outside of a conductor (skin-effect) whereas electrical current flows on the inside or thru a conductor. RF currents are tricky devils and care should be taken when dealing VHF and UHF. Also use chassis grounds on any type of transceiver and quality coax with the antenna mounted high and away from you as high levels of stray RF radiation will cause cataracts to form in your eyes. -- KG4LBD "Doug Dotson" wrote in message ... Good advise! I'll check it out. What about their masthead antennas? Doug "Michael O'Dell" wrote in message ... In article , (Larry W4CSC) wrote: The PL-259 connector used to be called the "UHF connector" because it came on UHF FM radios way back after WW2. I think RCA was to blame for that one, but it might have been ol' Batwing. There is only one SO-239 (female) and PL-259 (male) connector set. The screw-in ferrules to shrink up the 3/4" coax hole to RG-58 and RG-59 are different, though. None of them are "water proof", unfortunately. None of them are a good match on any coax cable they don't screw directly onto, either, like RG-8 or 213. They're "acceptable" on RG 58 and 59 and 6 and 8X for our purposes and their biggest benefit is anyone with simple soldering irons can put them together with little skill, unlike proper 'N' or 'BNC' or 'SMA' connectors we SHOULD be using. On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 16:05:22 GMT, wrote: Can someone tell me if there is a PL-259 connector for UHF and a different one for VHF? I got a 259 from Radio Shack that was labeled for UHF. It looked the same to me so I installed it, along with a Shakespeare VHF antenna for a VHF marine band radio. Would not transmit, but had a steady clicking from the speaker when mike was open. I returned the radio to the factory for repair under warrenty, and when returned was told the radio performed at factory specs, and to check the installation. So, now I'm stumped, and hate to try anything else without knowing what's going on. A SWR meter check would not help at this point. Thanks for any help. Helmer Larry W4CSC 3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right? One Very Nice Feature(tm) of the Digital Antenna products is that they provide cables pre-terminated with TNC connectors which are only marginally larger than the quality marine 8X they ship. they then provide a PL-259 "adapter" which the TNC screws into to terminate in an SO-259. saves MUCH grief fishing the cable and saves the work of terminating it yourself. they claim providing pre-terminated cables saves them lots of support time. a win all around as far as i'm concerned. I have no affiliation with Digital Antenna other than as a satisfied owner of 4 of their antennas: 2x 8' Marine VHF, an 8' cell stick, and their big SSB pole. cheers, -mo |
PL-259 connectors VHF UHF
FWIW A guide to RF Connectors can be found at
http://catalog.tycoelectronics.com/TE/bin/TE.Connect?C=10005&F=10002&M=FINF&N=6&LG=1&I=13&RQ S= A guide to cables, including losses and power handling, and connectors can be had at: http://www.therfc.com/ Enjoy |
PL-259 connectors VHF UHF
On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 14:37:03 -0700, "Mad Dog"
wrote: Good advise so far.....a single antenna installation should use 50 ohm coax to match the output impedance of the radio to the input impedance of the antenna. RG8/X is not suitable for VHF (very high freq.) or UHF (ultra high freq.) While RG8X may not be the best cable for VHF frequencies, it is very frequently used there - and is probably the cable most often supplied on Marine antennas. -- Peter Bennett, VE7CEI new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca |
PL-259 connectors VHF UHF
Peter Bennett wrote:
On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 14:37:03 -0700, "Mad Dog" wrote: Good advise so far.....a single antenna installation should use 50 ohm coax to match the output impedance of the radio to the input impedance of the antenna. RG8/X is not suitable for VHF (very high freq.) or UHF (ultra high freq.) While RG8X may not be the best cable for VHF frequencies, it is very frequently used there - and is probably the cable most often supplied on Marine antennas. -- Peter Bennett, VE7CEI new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca http://www.therfc.com/coax.htm Yer pays 'y money and makes 'y tradeoffs .... |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:10 PM. |
|
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2014 BoatBanter.com