HFU HF Underground
Technical Topics => Equipment => Topic started by: ChrisSmolinski on March 03, 2019, 1655 UTC
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Previous post: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,41737.0.html
I completely rebuilt my antenna / radio patch board this weekend, using F connectors in place of BNC. While BNC connectors had the advantage of quick connect/disconnect, they did not prove reliable in the long run, developing intermittent connections.
I was debating between F and RCA connectors, I went with F for a few reasons. All of my incoming coax from antennas is RG-6 with F connectors anyway. They're fairly reliable and easy to attach to custom cables. Quick push on adapters are available if I want to be able to quickly change connectors, but I can still go back to screw on for permanent connections.
Otherwise the panel is about the same, I did increase the vertical spacing between the two rows of # connectors to make it easier to attach cables in the back.
(https://i.imgur.com/3pzLlSq.jpg)
Some of the cables going to radios use BNC cables, so I got some BNC female to F male adapters, to connect the runs on the back of the panel. Bad idea. These adapters are garbage. You cannot tighten them completely, and they quickly fall apart (as in a few minutes):
(https://i.imgur.com/ZRY93DN.png)
So I ended up making new runs using RG-6 with F connectors (I use compression F connectors now, so much better than the old crimp style), and used F female to BNC male adapters on the radio end. These adapters are much more reliable.
And no, the 1000 ft LoG antenna does not yet exist, that's for a future project ;D
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Nice project to look at. It’s nicely designed at the point of view already :)
It kinda reminds me of the first telephone booths where each call had a single line for a local service to plug into to connect the caller back in the days :)
Good luck with your project. Nice to see the first steps u described above. Gives some inspiration as well.
Kind regards,
Telegrapher
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Being prompted by your panel, I dug out the bag of ancient cable tv relics and found an old 3-way f connector antenna switch like from back when you had a vcr, tv, and a coleco pong, an inline variable attenuator by ratshack, and several splitters that should be good at least down to MF.
All of that arranged appropriately should offer useful rf switching/leveling/routing/sharing paradigms.
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The patch board is full
(https://i.imgur.com/DGsYKYm.png)