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Old 03-26-2013, 07:23 AM   #21
N3LYT
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Bending the wire over can work but again it may not. It's not the way to do it. I will assume you have a crimp type PL259 if that is the case you'll need to crimp the center connector at the very end and the braid with a hex crimper (same thing as a TV crimp tool) If you have a non crimp type you'll have to solder it including the braid through the tiny holes in the 259. The RG8X also requires a bushing because it is designed to be used on some thing like an RG8 cable that is a great deal larger. I would recommend not soldering the braid until you check your work with an ohm meter (if you screw it up makes it a lot easier to get apart) If your trimming job on the braid is a bit too long you run the risk of shorting it to the center pin. It does get easier after you have done a few.
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Old 03-27-2013, 09:09 PM   #22
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Last night I tried my hand at the teflon silver PL259 and soldered . Got a bad match and gave up. Today, I went to Radio Shack and bought a screw on
PL259. Followed the directions and crimped the end. Got the lowest match of 1.1:1 and my transmitting power is back to 55 watts.
One thing I've noticed is that sometimes when listening, I would see signal strength when I turned down the squelch and sometimes not. The noise is the same. Should there be signal strength showing on the radio's meter all the time? When someone transmits, the strength meter shows the appropriate level.
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Old 03-28-2013, 12:08 AM   #23
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There could easily be -- usually will be -- some noise even when you hear no one transmitting. That's normal. You say "noise is the same" but that's the receiver's AGC working -- the noise probably isn't really the same.
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Old 03-30-2013, 09:59 AM   #24
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With a lot of changing of PL259 plugs and finally just using a twist on crimp, I think the ladder mount is working fine. Low match and everyone says I sound fine. Making repeaters without any problems. So the top of the ladder mount is working. My poor soldering job on the connectors was the big problem.
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Old 03-30-2013, 06:33 PM   #25
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Originally Posted by SoCalRVer View Post
With a lot of changing of PL259 plugs and finally just using a twist on crimp, I think the ladder mount is working fine. Low match and everyone says I sound fine. Making repeaters without any problems. So the top of the ladder mount is working. My poor soldering job on the connectors was the big problem.
We have all had our problems with PL259's early on you'll get better don't give up glad you got it working if nothing else it was a good exercise.
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Old 03-30-2013, 09:52 PM   #26
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Don't know if I should start a new topic, but I tried using a magmount on top of my house's roof top air conditioner/heater. It's metal and about 3'x3'. I got a terrible match. Could it be because I attached 30 feet of RG8x to the 12 feet of RG58 coming off the antenna mount? Aren't they both 50ohms? do I need to use the same coax?
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Old 03-31-2013, 07:51 AM   #27
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Yes they are both 50 ohms and a 3X3 is probably a big enough ground plane. Magmounts are a compromise and at VHF freqs and up connection losses rise rapidly. Mixing different coax types is not a good ideal due to the velocity factor of the cables they are not the same and it's going to be hard to get a good match.
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Old 03-31-2013, 09:01 AM   #28
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The ground plane ought to be 1/4 wavelength minimum in each direction, which (at 146 MHz) is about 20.2 inches. The longest dimension (the diagonal) of a 3x3 plane is over 25 inches, big enough.

You mention 30 feet of coax. It wasn't the same 30-foot piece of coax, was it, the piece with the bad connections? Linking RG8X to RG58 shouldn't be a problem; neither is exactly 50 ohms (they're both about 52 ohms) but that's way close enough.
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Old 03-31-2013, 09:51 AM   #29
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Put the magmount on my truck and still go a bad match with just the 12 feet off the mount. Guess MFJ is living up to it's name!
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Old 03-31-2013, 01:51 PM   #30
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Put the magmount on my truck and still go a bad match with just the 12 feet off the mount. Guess MFJ is living up to it's name!
Radio Shack, you got questions we got dumb looks.
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Old 12-08-2013, 07:14 PM   #31
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I use a ladder mount. However, most ladders are not grounded on MHs. I bought some aluminum strap metal and attach it to the ladder with stainless hose clamps. I attach it to the frame using stainless bolts and washers isolating it from the steel chassis.
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Old 12-09-2013, 06:34 AM   #32
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I woudl have to see the ladder mount,, But,, If I were mounting a 2-mtr to the ladder..... Most RV ladders go straight up then bend 90 degrees and run out on the roof a good 3 feet flat... I'd put the 2-mter in the middle of the lfat part and that pipe would be my "ground plane".

That said.. i'd not put it there either cause I need those rails if I use that ladder,, and what's more, I removed that ladder cause I'm 300 pounds and it's rated 150 tops in my book (includes the mounts, ladder itself is rated more but not the mounts).

What I use is rated 250, holds 500 and works great.
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