Fecking Belling-Lee connectors

Does the TV get a lot of moving around? Solid core cable will break eventually if flexed a lot.

Think an F plug plus F to UHF adaptor might be a better bet.

Everyone knows that TV aerial connectors are crap and looks there first. The same with F connectors on SKY, if isn't the one behind the box its the one on the LNB. Actually its usually the LNB but its easier to check the other first.

This happens when the person stripping the dielectric scores the inner. It's something you have to be careful about.

Bill

I'd say it's usually the one behind the box as they get knocked. I've never had to fix on on an LNB as they just sit still for their entire life.

To make a sky connector work, make the inner wire longer than you'd think, you can always trim it till it fits. Some boxes need a longer wire.

I've never used copper covered aluminium aerial wire, but I imagine that would be even more prone to this.

Blame whoever fitted the plug. The centre conductor is supposed to be soldered to the centre pin. Omit this stage and expect problems at some unspecified time in the future.

And, before someone points out that they've had unsoldered connectors without problems for the last 20 odd years, might I respectfully point out that I didn't guarantee a 100% failure rate?

One bodge which seems to be reasonably successful is to grip the centre pin where it emerges from the insulator with a pair of side cutters and 'crimp' the pin tighly on the conductor.

This doesn't work well with old stranded centre conductors but does with a solid conductor *provided* that the crimping action doesn't bend the centre pin out of alignment so that it damages the socket.

The only thing that would have chnaged is the bit wouldn't have fallen out. And as the center conductor couldn't move may well have failed earlier.

Messy, better to put a kink into the center conductor so the peak and either side press againt the inside of the pin when the core is pushed in.

That'll be yours truly, then.

S'what I do.

Yes - unfortunately I misread the original post and misinterpreted " the centre conductor fell off" to mean the centre pin assembly fell off - mainly because I've known that happen loads of times but never experience the severed conductor.

Yes, agreed but, going back 60 years ago before 'Low loss' cable for UHF installations arrived on the scene, any cable with a solid conductor had such fine wire that it didn't exeert so much lateral pressure.

Actually, the title of this thread woud have been better if it read 'Fecking Belling Lee look alike connectors'.

The original B&L connector had an excellent cable grip which closed up around the cable and bit int the sheath, anchoring it firmly. Then some look alikes sarted appearing - the first I remember was from RS - which had a s*it cable clamp. Instead of the original spring steel clamp, it was made of a softer metal so that, unless the cable was thick enough to completely fill the rather large hole in the cap (rare), when tightened, the claws bent back, passed through the hole beside the cable and formed a reverse curve so that the end of the claws didn't even reach the sheath!

The Egen connectors were fine though and, unlike the B&L plug, hard a hard plastic insulator round the centre pin.

B&L used polyethylene, so you had to be quick with the soldering iron before it melted.

Whether they're any better now, I don't know, because all I've used for the past 28 years is F connectors and F female - male IEC adaptors.