I've built aircraft wiring harnesses and was prohibited from soldering any connector and these were cables that someone's life depended on. The key point here is you must have the proper crimper and it must be calibrated. If not there is no accountability and no guarantee the connection is reliable.
So for many hamsters a soldered connection might be better because the proper tools are not available.
prcguy
Right, I've heard that, and back when I was doing some fire alarm work, we were told that also. My understanding was that the solder could make things brittle. Crimp allows flexing, but if you flow solder down the wire, the flexing is gone and the result can be breakage.
I also know that the crimpers used in the aircraft industry are really high spec, and better than what a lot of the RF guys use.
I prefer to flow a bit of solder on them, but not too much. For things under the hood, it's really easy for vibration or corrosion over time to take it's toll. Leaving the wire a bit long and extending out past the crimp barrel allows a bit of solder to be applied. That, and the mechanical crimp work well together, but as you pointed out, that doesn't fly in the aircraft industry. As for the flexing, proper strain relief can prevent breakage, but not always.
As much as I dislike flying, I like to hear about the high spec stuff you guys do. Both my grandfathers work for Lockheed back in the 50's, 60's and 70's. One of them was airframe, the other was electrical systems. Some of the stuff he taught me has been very valuable.