The Joy of Crimp-On Connectors

I had the pleasure of installing my first crimp-on coax connector today!

I purchased the crimp-on tools and connectors from Quicksilver at Hamvention, but had not needed to install any new connectors until today when I discovered a failing connector on the coax of my vertical antenna. (Funny thing about purchasing from Quicksilver – they are just a half hour down the road from here, but I have made all my purchases from them at Hamvention – just 12 hours down the road from here!)

Having never installed a crimp-on, I searched YouTube for a how-to video and found an excellent one, “How To Attach Crimped Coax Connectors” by Dave Casler, KE0OG. Dave had the same Quicksilver tools I had and he was installing connectors on RG8X coax, which was what I was trying to do, so the video was a perfect match for my task.

I watched the video one time, began to do it myself, fast-forwarding and rewinding the video as needed and I was amazed how easy it was to install the crimp-on! 

Welcome to the 21st Century!

Hamvention Transition

Some of the crew staffing the TAPR booth at Hamvention

I attended Hamvention and am happy to report that it was a successful trip. Here are some thoughts on the trip.

The transition from the Hara Arena to a new (to me) venue (Greene County Fairgrounds) was better than I expected. My only complaint is the scarcity of brick and mortar bathrooms and the dependency on portables (I hate portables).  

After researching the matter before the trip, I decided to transition from soldered to crimp-on coax connectors. So I had a shopping list for the parts I needed and returned home with three bags of crimp-on connectors (to terminate different coax cable sizes) as well as crimp-on dies for my Powerpole crimper.

It rained Thursday, Friday and Saturday and my Subaru now sports mud camouflage, but it's all-wheel-drive kept things moving and I avoided the tow trucks.

I saw most of the people I looked forward to seeing and it was great to renew acquaintances in person.

Working the TAPR booth is always interesting and attending the TAPR-AMSAT banquet and the Hamvention Awards dinner was a lot of fun (not to mention that the food was great).

During the 725-mile roadtrip, I entertained myself by tuning up and down the AM radio dial. It was interesting to hear stations during the day that I only hear after dark at home, like CHML, WJR, WLW and WSM.

Over and out.