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Author Topic: Coax Connector Failure  (Read 2714 times)

Offline Terry

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Coax Connector Failure
« on: May 12, 2017, 0141 UTC »
Long story but my VHF / UHF bands on my FT-857 became very weak / inop out of the blue. Wasn't even transmitting just listening to the NOAA wx satellites and the Funcubes. After trying several things coax and antenna related I finally removed the UHF male - female right angle connector. It had failed for no reason at all. It was fairly new.
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QTH Florida's Treasure Coast, near Stuart 100 mi N of Miami Grid locator EL97uf
Equipment: Kenwood TS-480SAT, R-600, Yaesu FT-857D, R. S. SW portable (Sangean), R.S. Pro-106 Scanner 25-1300 MHz, HyGain 18AVQII, M2 6M 3 el beam, Misc verticals and dipoles
73,
Terry

Offline RST111

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Re: Coax Connector Failure
« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2017, 0459 UTC »
Suspect everything.

A useful approach for life in general.   ;)   Glad you got the problem sorted!
Pls qsl to rst111@protonmail.com ty!

QTH: 30mi East of Seattle

IC-R75, Afedri SDR, Airspy Discovery, Stridsberg HF Multicoupler, MFJ-1020C, Palomar CMNF-6, 40m dipole @ 100' AGL

Offline Josh

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Re: Coax Connector Failure
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2017, 1746 UTC »
How did it fail? In mine usually the center pin that screws into the dealy always gets loosened and I have to retighten it.
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Offline Terry

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Re: Coax Connector Failure
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2017, 0221 UTC »
Thanks RST111.
Josh, not sure how it failed. Since you asked, I just dug it out of the trash can and it checked OK at DC. Continuity where it should be and no shorts. The center pin was not loose. ???
It has been returned to its final, eternal resting place. The garbage.
QTH Florida's Treasure Coast, near Stuart 100 mi N of Miami Grid locator EL97uf
Equipment: Kenwood TS-480SAT, R-600, Yaesu FT-857D, R. S. SW portable (Sangean), R.S. Pro-106 Scanner 25-1300 MHz, HyGain 18AVQII, M2 6M 3 el beam, Misc verticals and dipoles
73,
Terry

Offline RST111

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Re: Coax Connector Failure
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2017, 0435 UTC »
Thanks RST111.
it checked OK at DC. Continuity where it should be and no shorts.

Maybe something goofy happened like the insulator shifted and it started acting like a capacitor between the shield and signal.  RF is magical like that.  As you said, suspect everything!
Pls qsl to rst111@protonmail.com ty!

QTH: 30mi East of Seattle

IC-R75, Afedri SDR, Airspy Discovery, Stridsberg HF Multicoupler, MFJ-1020C, Palomar CMNF-6, 40m dipole @ 100' AGL

Offline redhat

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Re: Coax Connector Failure
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2017, 1410 UTC »
..one of the reasons I hate those connectors.  Was this the indoor or outdoor connector that failed?

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