Compression F-Conncetors

[avediswolf]

You know you are a geek when...

Just because I had nothing better to do, I decided to buy some PPC compression F Connectors, and the tool to put them on, and go home, and replace all my crimp on connectors on my whole system. ( Even the cable for my cable modem got bright shiny new connectors. )

Thanks Sadoun! They love me now that I know they are close to where I live.

I need a life.

Anyway, None of the crimp ons looked bad, saw no evidence of water, but my signal strength on Dish has went up a few points with the new connectors.

I always use TP18 as reference, and on 129 I went up 5 points, 110 and 119 3 points. Not huge, but interesting.

Maybe the sky was just clearer, I dunno.

Anyone else do something like this just for the sake of doing it, or am I the only weirdo.

Later.

 

[VIPERS-PIT]

OK Not a bad idea, as I perfer compression over crimp fittings. But you have to be VERY careful of a few things. 1st that you use a good tool to cut the cable for the fitting. 2nd that NOTHING but the foam core be touching the stinger (the copper center). 3rd that the stinger not be sticking out to far.

 

[avediswolf]

I did a few tests since I never used compression connectors. I love how easy they are to pop on, and how hard they are to get off.

I have a 3 blade coax stripper, Maybe I had something touching on the crip ons, as I mentioned, My signal got better with the compression connectors, which I just thought weird, because in my logical brain, I really didn't see any advantage there, and I thought my crimp ons were done quite well. Maybe some water that I didn't see with the old crimps.

Another plus, The compression connectors look nice and professional, which I love a job that also looks well done. You wouldn't believe how many crimp ons I've cut off just because the crimp didn't look good enough.

 

[Todd Wiedemann]

You know you are a geek when...

Just because I had nothing better to do, I decided to buy some PPC compression F Connectors, and the tool to put them on, and go home, and replace all my crimp on connectors on my whole system. ( Even the cable for my cable modem got bright shiny new connectors. )

Thanks Sadoun! They love me now that I know they are close to where I live.

I need a life.

Anyway, None of the crimp ons looked bad, saw no evidence of water, but my signal strength on Dish has went up a few points with the new connectors.

I always use TP18 as reference, and on 129 I went up 5 points, 110 and 119 3 points. Not huge, but interesting.

Maybe the sky was just clearer, I dunno.

Anyone else do something like this just for the sake of doing it, or am I the only weirdo.

Later.

I did exactly that too. With similar results, both on DirecTV and FTA !

 

[Tom J]

Even though you replaced all your connectors, the improvement in SS likely came from replacing just the connectors exposed to the weather. I'll bet that if you had replaced just the outside crimp connectors with new crimp connectors you likely would have the same positive result. Nevertheless, you did the right thing. Compression F-connectors are superior to crimp-ons in every way. The best benefit you will have is that the integrity of the connection will remain high as opposed to degrading slowly as with crimp-ons.

Good job !!! :up :up

Tom J

 

[SimpleSimon]

3rd that the stinger not be sticking out to far.

AND that the stinger is sticking out far enough! I always go 1/4" past the nut.

For those that want to argue it must be flush, feel free to hook up your flush-cuts to a DPP44 and see how far you get.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Stripping the cable is key, I recommend this stripper from the Dishstore which is one of the best ones on the market...
http://www.dishstore.net/product_info.php?cPath=53&products_id=61

As far as cutting off the stinger, I have a pair of electrical wire strippers that I use and it does a perfect job of getting the stinger 1/4 from the connector.

 

[avediswolf]

I learned a coule years back not to cut the "stinger" flush with the nut. Took me forever to find that problem at that time.

I've not used the stripper that Claude recommends, I got the HT-322 from Sadoun ( http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/Install/HT-322-Cable-Stripper.htm ) and it works quite well. But then again, until last year, I was still taking 5 minutes and stripping the ends with a pocket knife.

Thanks for the info, everyone. Just because I had a drawer full of crimp on connectors, I never gave compressions a look, but when the cable dude installed the cable modem, I saw how nice his connectors looked, and just geeked out, and had to replace every connector in the house.

 

[jjpicou]

I did the same and replaced the original crimp on connectors that I installed with my Direcway system in 2002 and the receive signal strength increased also.
During the replacement, I also noticed the ground block was in need of replacement.

 

[Mike500]

Be very careful to get the length right on the center conductio, if you use a compression tool that pushes on the center of the connector. 1/4" is too short. 1/2" is too long. Ideally. it should be 5/16 to 3/8" ling past the white center insulator of the coax, and NO MORE.

Cutting the center conductor too long and using a compression tool that pushes into the center will cause the insulator to recede into the center ferule of the connector. This will create a void where water vapor can enter abd cause corrosion. Ideally, the white insulator should rise about 1/16" above the bottom of the inside of the nut.