mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
So, my dad got a new truck. He did the radio install and asked me to help him do the NMO mount. Permanent mount, the right way to do it.
He shows up at my house with a Tram NMO mount with a pre-installed PL-259 connector. He sees me face-palm and gives me a hard time. It's what he brought with him. I offer him a Larsen NMO mount, but he declines. So, I work with what I've got.
The NMO mount seems fine. No real difference between any of the other name brand mounts.
The RG-58 seems OK. Good braid coverage. I didn't bother putting it on the analyzer, but "looked" as good as any of the other stuff.
It had a preinstalled PL-259 connector which I cut off so we could route the cable. I left it sitting on the bench and a few days later I decided to disassemble it to see what kind of quality. I cut the molded strain relief off and this is what I found underneath:
Cheap connector. Smashed out shield crimp. Center conductor was soldered in pretty well. Really easy to pull the outer shield from the crimp. The over molded strain relief is really what holds these things together. Out shield isn't crimped around the connector, just the dielectric.
Fine for a scanner, CB, etc. Not sure I'd trust it for much else.
I replaced it with a proper crimp on name brand connector.
He shows up at my house with a Tram NMO mount with a pre-installed PL-259 connector. He sees me face-palm and gives me a hard time. It's what he brought with him. I offer him a Larsen NMO mount, but he declines. So, I work with what I've got.
The NMO mount seems fine. No real difference between any of the other name brand mounts.
The RG-58 seems OK. Good braid coverage. I didn't bother putting it on the analyzer, but "looked" as good as any of the other stuff.
It had a preinstalled PL-259 connector which I cut off so we could route the cable. I left it sitting on the bench and a few days later I decided to disassemble it to see what kind of quality. I cut the molded strain relief off and this is what I found underneath:
Cheap connector. Smashed out shield crimp. Center conductor was soldered in pretty well. Really easy to pull the outer shield from the crimp. The over molded strain relief is really what holds these things together. Out shield isn't crimped around the connector, just the dielectric.
Fine for a scanner, CB, etc. Not sure I'd trust it for much else.
I replaced it with a proper crimp on name brand connector.