Help with soldering

[rszemeti]

I suspect it's environmental legislation as well as H&S.

Its's part of the ROSHH legislation ...

Once you get the hang of lead free, it's hard to tell the difference. We swapped to it for production about 10 years ago, it was a bit weird to work with at first, now I can't work out what all the fuss was about.

 

[G12]

A the N types is a vastly superior connector to the PL259.

Completely correct and also important at VHF frequencies (as opposed to MF/HF). The PL259/SO239 combo works but the impedance is ont constant throughout the connector. The N type is worth the extra money, time and effort as is fitting superior quality coax to the horrid lossy stuff that comes with most antennas.

 

[Crinan12]

Thanks all
I didn't know the n connector was better than the pl259
I was actually going to do away with the n connector and fit pl259's but I'll be sure not to
Cheers

 

[lw395]

N is superior, but as most marine VHF kit comes with 259's, it's not always helpful.

 

[rszemeti]

Thanks all
I didn't know the n connector was better than the pl259
I was actually going to do away with the n connector and fit pl259's but I'll be sure not to
Cheers

N Type is a professional connector used on higher end equipment, and is rated for frequencies up to 10 GHz, so the low frequencies of VHF Marine are well within it's reach. It has minimal loss at VHF. The BIG plus of N type is that it is waterproof, with sealing rings both internally in the plug and around the cable. It is widely used in military applications.

The PL259 is a low grade connector, it is not waterproof, it is not really suitable for VHF, an upper limit of 100MHz would be about right, but it is used on many VHF sets, but certainly not useable at UHF, you won't find it used on any professional VHF equipment.

I use N Type on my boat where possible, primarily because of the waterproofing.