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Customer told me my crimps were 'lazy' - changed my whole approach
Had this older guy in Austin watch me terminate a coax run and he just said 'son, you're leaving too much slack in the fitting.' I was pissed at first, but he was right. I started measuring my strip length to exactly 3/8 inch and my signal loss dropped like crazy. Anyone else get a random tip from a customer that actually made sense?
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shane6552mo ago
Honestly I gotta disagree here. I've been doing this 12 years and I've never measured my strip length to a specific number. You can tell by feel and sight if your crimp is right. That 3/8 thing sounds like one guy's preference, not some universal fix for signal loss. I think people overthink this stuff sometimes. If your connections are solid and your testing shows good numbers, then you're fine. Random advice from customers is hit or miss in my experience, glad it worked for you though.
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aaron8842mo ago
Yeah but @shane655 the 3/8 thing isn't just random. It comes from the connector manufacturers themselves - check any reputable brand's spec sheet and they'll tell you 3/8 inch for RG6. I've seen guys go shorter and the center conductor doesn't sit flush in the connector, then you get intermittent issues down the road. Longer and you risk the dielectric not lining up right inside the compression fitting. Your mileage may vary of course but I've fixed way too many jobs where someone "went by feel" and ended up with cold solder joints or loose connections after a season of weather. The whole point of measuring is to take the guesswork out when you're doing 50+ terminations in a day. If it works for you it works, just saying there's a reason the spec exists.
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blairtaylor1mo ago
That part right there about the dielectric is the real hidden gotcha @shane655. Seen plenty of installs where a guy strips a little long, shoves it in, and the compression ring ends up crushing that exposed dielectric instead of clamping to the jacket. Signal works fine at first but a few months of temp swings and you're troubleshooting ghost issues. The manufacturers put those specs in the datasheet for a reason, not for fun.
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