LMR-400 Coax Cable and Connector (#72)

[ilifpky]

A cellphone company installed indoor antennas where I worked. They brought in a 1, 000 foot spool of Times Microwave LMR400, used about 700 feet of it, then tossed the spool with about 300 feet of coax into the dumpster. With a scrap removal permit and some help from one of the millwrights the spool was fished out and went home with me. Free is a very good price.

[thom]

I have 300 feet of LMR-600 in my shed. I am feeding a HF vertical in the yard with 100 feet of LMR-600. I love this stuff.

[Usacoax]

Dave,

We build about 10, 000 Times Jumpers and Antenna Cables each month :) You are correct in that Times makes the best coax out there for low loss applications. Some other points in your video need a little clarification.

LMR-195 is used by Hams, a lot of them. We build a ton of jumpers with it as it is the same size as RG-58 with less than 1/2 the loss at HF frequencies. This is a good combination. :)

LMR-240 is very popular as it has the loss of RG-8 and is the same size as RG-8x

LMR-400 is the most popular. You can bend it 90 Degrees in 1 Inch during install without attenuation. Yes it has a foam dielectric but the center conductor in Times coax will not migrate. You don't have to worry about that. We have a 10 Year Warranty on our cables and have never had one returned for that issue.

The tool set you have is OK for most cables and the smaller LMR types but if you are going to do a lot of cables you need a better set of crimpers and absolutely a better cutter for LMR-400. The cutter you have is too small and flattens the coax making it much harder to strip. To strip the cable your stripper is OK but you need a set of Linemans Pliers with the Flat tip in both large and small sizes.

After stripping grip the first section with your pliers and Twist. It will pop lose and slide right off. For the others use the flat face of the pliers from the Side and Pinch the cable and Twist to break it lose. You Do Not need any cutting implements.

The solid center conductor needs to be much hotter and you should flow the solder down the PL-259. This will give you rock solid connection.

We build LMR assemblies up to LMR-1200 :) THAT is big.

[leeharrell]

I love that you show the frustration, rather than editing it all out. We're all only human! :)

[raymondl.]

Subscribed after watching this video...have watched 12-15 of your other videos, but hadn't subscribed...subscribed to your channel after watching this one for two reasons:
1) You come across in all the videos as regular every-day sort of guy, someone who does not try to impress viewers with your knowledge by using a lot of jargon that new-comers would be unfamiliar with. But yet you ARE very, very knowledgeable and I for one am very thankful I found your channel, as I have no 'elmer' in my area to deal with directly.
2)Second reason, and probably corny reason to subscribe to someone's channel -- but I have the EXACT same tool set/kit as you showed, and I bought a cpl. hundred feet of LMR-400 when building my station for first time in 2012/13, and I also had issues working with it (because I didn't know what the hell I was doing as brand-new-to-HAM Tech Lic. holder), but when I saw that you had a few issues working with it, and that you did not edit out that sort of stuff and try to portray yourself as some "know-it-all" prima donna as too many on youtube do I subscribed.
Been off the air for 3-4 years (had to put everything in storage) and am trying to get the station back on-air now...found your channel last week, and started watching your videos (jumping from one subject to another, and in no particular order), and want to say: Thank you, thank you, thank you for putting the time and effort you do into making these videos. Trying to educate myself properly about HAM-Radio this time around, which I did not do in 2012/13, and your videos have been a tremendous help.
Do other viewers care about what I think, and the fact that I subscribed and why...most likely not. I'm commenting on a video that's over a year old, so don't know if anyone will even read this...but I wanted to say thank you...and that you are appreciated, probably by many more than you realize...because I have, as I have gotten older, come to realize that many, many people who benefit from videos such as these never take the time to 'like' the video or subscribe to the channel.
I'm rambling (old guy syndrome) -- so I will shut up, and say THANK YOU one more time, and back to watching more videos.
Raymond - WF7BSR

[ltdees]

This is great video...& how many I screwed up...stopped counting 20 years ago🤣 BTW...@ 25:37 set play-back to 0.25 slows Dave down a bit 👍

[donalddodson]

Thank you, Dave. I look forward to the terminating part 2. 73 KI6GZK Don La Mesa, CA

[graywolf]

Great job once again Dave. I was happy to see that I am not the only one who has had trouble getting LMR400 stripped and ready for connector installation. Good grief it can be frustrating.

[avaughan]

Your video intros remind me of the the Learning Channel TV show "Home Improvement" in the 1990's! 😄

[bobnrlg]

Thank you, Dave, for another good video. I would say great but the part I need to see/learn/know is the part you fast forwarded through. I get why you did it, but those of us who have limited coax experience or are new to the radio hobby have to see each individual step. Ok, vent over! :)

[barndweller]

I buy the off brand LMR-400 copy and have never had a problem with it. I just screw on the PL-259 but it is a tight fit. L leave the brade on the side and twist the connector on over it then trim off the excess. I then trim and solder the center conductor. I normally can get a 500 root roll for around 250-275$. The locals buy it off me because there is no place local we can buy it.

I used to love the old 9913 but I have not seen than in years. Nice

[kytgtodd]

Thanks Dave for taking the time to make such helpful/visual videos! You are a GREAT Elmer!! 73

[WBBRA]

Sir; your videos that I have watch are excellent and professional in their presentation. As a retired teacher you have been just great in these teaching videos. I, as an amateur radio operator, am very impressed with your videos. Thank you much; WB8BRA.

[RateMyRadio]

We're glad you used crimp connectors David; LMR-400 and its variants are far too easy to damage with soldering - the foamed dielectric isn't suited to high temperatures.

Amphenol make some lovely crimp centre pin connectors for use with LMR series :)

[thomdurfee]

I use LMR-600 and putting connectors on that coax is an absolute dream. I do use the proper tools for prepping and crimping the connectors. Not sure how expensive the PL-259 connectors for LMR-400 are but for LMR-600 they are almost $9 each.

[ilifpky]

Just my personal preference, but I slide a piece of marine grade heat shrink about 2 inches long over the crimp to provide strain relief where the braid enters the crimp sleeve. Marine grade tubing has hot glue inside and really grips and seals the connection.

[michaelhinchey]

Very detailed video. AND LOVE THE HONESTY AT THE END.

[ActinOut]

Picked up one of the kits as well. I like how versatile it is. So far I'm a little disappointed in the rotating cutter. For brand new, the braid cutter blade seems to tear it up a bit as opposed to just cutting it. Not the clean cut you obtained in the video. I may try it a few more times with adjusting it, but as you said. Limited tries at such a price for the lmr400. The large cutter doesn't cut through the lmr400 cleanly either. Kind of smashes it and then leaves the braid wire frayed on the far end. I may look some cable cutting scizzors. But for the price of the kit, I wish these aspects were a bit better quality. It's a better price and more options than what dx engineering had though. Thanks for the tip.

[Usacoax]

Forgot to add - for a great cable cutter go to Ace hardware and look for an Ace brand cutter tool we use here in the shop. They are around $10 and we cut well over a million feet of coax up to LMR-600 with ours before they fail. You can also get your Linemans pliers at any Ace. One set lasts forever.

POWER HANDLING - LMR-400 WILL NOT handle Legal Limit Power above 2 Meters. This is what differentiates the LMR coax from RG-8 and RG-213. We have had folks use too much power and Melt the Dielectric. If you are going to run excess power don't use LMR.

Thanks,

Ray N1MPD

[rhwinner]

LMR195 is a great alt to RG-174, with much better shielding and power handling. I've used it in baluns - very flexible and easy to work with.