Fabricating Coax Cables for Experimental Aircraft 

Good job John. I just learned this by the seat of my pants a few months ago. Couple of suggestions....1) the hole in the small inner gold pin is a witness hole and the inner cable length is correct when you can see it thru the hole; 2) the same pin is actually held in place in the main body by a detent, and its important that it engages in that detent or the pin wont be at its maximum stick out and you wont get a connection when you hook your cables up; 3) buy at least two extra BNC connectors and expect them to be sacrificial "practice" because at least the first time you do this, you'll probably screw it up...so also leave a bit of extra cable in your run to accommodate that; 4) GPS TNC connectors, like on Garmin antennas look quite a bit different from the ubiquitous BNC but are made the same so dont freak out about that. Finally, +1 for Stein Bruke and his gang. Def watch his videos and patronize his business.

I'm a new builder, and these videos are AWESOME. Could not be explained better. THANK YOU!

To show a close up view of the detail work you're performing, you can place your hand behind the the target shot and the camera will focus on the close up view. Love your instructional and demonstrative videos!!!

JON, THANK YOU FOR CLARIFYING THE PARTICULARS WITH COAXIAL CABLE SELECTION AND APPLICATION. I WAS VERY IGNORANT ON THE SUBJECT UNTIL YOU POSTED THIS FANTASTIC VIDEO. PLEASE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. GOD BLESS!

Firstly, thanks for providing these videos. They're a wonderful bite sized learning resource and much appreciated. Point of correction though: you mention that Teflon will not turn into harmful gasses on combustion. In reality, Teflon is a trade name for PTFE (poly-tetra-fluoro-ethylene). While it has a higher melting point than polypropylene used on the RG58 family, its thermal breakdown products will include halogenated compounds which are highly toxic. Although this will probably be mitigated by the ventilated environment likely in an aircraft fire. Once again, thanks for the informative and entertaining videos

The most important part is the silver plated double screen - this keeps RF inside the cable so it doesn't cause havoc with sensitive instrumentation, and also provides a good barrier in reverse to keep whiney nasty noises out of your sensitive receiver. The silver plating is important, because as it ages and oxidises it forms silver oxide - which is an excellent conductor!! Oxides of copper, conversely, are a particularly bad thing to be developing inside your aircraft cabling. Consider covering the ends with glue-filled heatshrink, and also a sheath of it can be added elsewhere along the cable for strain relief or abrasion resistance.

Im planning to build a plane and have plugged in the mission information with your videos. Very helpful

In order to determine the amount to cut for each step of the cable, just download the datasheet for the specific BNC connector that you have. They are all available if you search for the part number.

Very informative. Please consider doing another on TNC & 90 degree BNC connectors. Thanks. Cm

Nice Job.....another source of information which is very good info is the EAA.Videos for homebuilt hints.....under crimping. I recommend using the EAA Videos as well.

Admittedly, I never knew how those RG connectors terminated and ended up with cables pulling out. Luckily it was not for aircraft, thank you for that!

Informative. My Sargent been hounding on me if I know how to build one. We mostly solder our pins on though.

The little hole in the side of the brass center connector is for wicking solder in..........makes a better conductor for your radio output and keeps the connection from developing corrosion...........any electrical resistance will diminish your radio ouput...........i solder all connections in all wiring harnesses i make...........wire will not pull out of terminal ends , corrosion will not build up , and it is guaranteed to perform............i use uninsulated terminals soldered on and heat shrink to insulate the end............if you use clear heat shrink , you can put an idenitifer tag under the heat shrink for circuit ID that is permanent and readable..

Doing it yourself will probably give a better outcome than contracted results (SteinAir does outstanding work --- but Aircraft Spruce, not so much --- I've gotten more than one cable from them where the BNC connector fell off from the RG400. Don't buy pre-made cables from Spruce)

Thank you for this video 🙂

The strippers come with a straight blade and a blade with the notch for cutting down to the center conductor. Since you did not cut down to the center conductor with the stripper, but only removed jacket and shield braid, did you replace the notched blade with a second straight blade? Or does the notched blade work OK to cut the shield braide, but leave the dielectric intact?

Does the Budweiser help the cable making process? I’d think so with how many terminations you need to make. Great video!

Nicely done.

I’ll have to get a set of dyes for my crimper. Looks Easier than soldering.

About the loss of the RG-400 vs RG-58: at what frequencies and cable length did you measure this?

i do these for a living on cell sites and first responder systems. I just have one question no testing?

Can you share what letters you have the blades set to (on the inside of the tool) in order to get the right length when stripping?

Great video!

Would you add Mix 31 ferrite beads heat-shrinked onto the coax for RFI suppression? KC9WDH

"...and this will take some force"... audio goes dead as curse words ensue.