Posted: 2/18/2016 1:30:20 PM EDT
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I was just wondering if anyone else uses wire nuts to attach coax to wire antenna's , i build antenna's and test all different types and always looking for a better antenna. Have been using them for years , dont know what kind of loss i mite be getting but they always seem to work.
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Been using them also, with no issues so far. I typically load them with ox-guard before application and always use some form of strain relief so the connection is not under tension. The piece of cutting board used in this open wire splice has 4 wire sized holes at each end, each wire goes through 2 before getting joined at the wire nut.
(the open wire is 14awg THHN with Zareba fin tube insulators as seperators) EDIT: missed the part about coax on first reading - I generally us a panel mount SO-239 to terminate the coax at the feed point, then run wire from the UHF fitting to either screw terminals (like speaker terminals) or to a wire nut junction if I'm not using a balun with screw terminals at the feed point. Wire nuts were used for each element connection on my fan dipole (40/20/17/12). The coax feed terminates at a panel mount SO239 on a piece of cutting board on the back (a bit of blue is peaking out from the edge). From there, wires connect to the feed arrays on either side of the kydex board that holds the element terminations. 
Nick |
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Quoted:
Most of the wire nuts I've run across dont take kindly to UV. after a couple years they are pretty much toast. That's a good point that I totally missed... An electrical tape wrap-up would probably help (like use over self-fusable tape), but be a kludge. Nick |