Jars Prep Net

It is Tuesday and that means another Prep net tonight on the might Jars machine! I was reading about what seems to be the inevitable end of Sears and of course Radio Shack most likely will be shuttered any day. Amateur Radio still has the hamfests, which is a throwback to the era of retail that we are talking about, but what about if you can not get out to shop.

We like to talk about what if the power is out for two weeks, but the reality is what happens if you no longer can count on the US Mail to deliver parts. Do you have the equipment to make repairs to your radios?  Another good question is do you have the know how to make repairs? This is certainly a good time to remind people that skills beat stuff any day. The fanciest radio with the best antenna will not do you much good if you can not get them on the air due to a pl259 that needs repairing.

Please plan on tuning in tonight at 9:00 PM on the AK4H repeater as we have our weekly rag chew about preparedness. Whether you enjoy listening on your radio, scanner, or even echolink it is a check in driven net so if you have your technician license or higher feel free to hit the PTT button. If you have not gotten your ticket yet please let us know what we can do to help.

I happened on this video that showed a method of PL-259 installation that I’ve never seen before and it works VERY well. I’ve used this method the last dozen or so times I’ve installed connectors. It’s a bit dragged out but still good info. One of the most important things he mentions is the size of the soldering iron. A LARGE low wattage iron with plenty of preheat time is important. In this case ‘Size Matters’. It’s like wok cooking, high heat for a short time. The large iron has a lot of thermal mass and quickly heats the connector to do the job. Practice makes perfect.