Old timer told me to stop using crimp connectors on shielded cable

Had a guy with 30 years in avionics watch me terminate a shielded line on a King KX 155 install. He said 'you're crushing the dielectric, son' and showed me how to solder the drain wire instead of crimping. Switched my method after that and my noise issues dropped way off. Anyone else run into old school soldering tricks that still beat modern crimp tools?

4 comments

4 Comments

ivanbell1mo ago

Stick with solder for shielded cable... old school still works best.

aaron7401mo ago

Yeah I read about that somewhere too. Someone was saying how crimping messes up the shield's continuity because the tool crushes the foil or braid right at the connection point. Soldering keeps everything intact and gives a cleaner ground path for the radio. Makes sense when you think about it.

logan6581mo ago

My soldering looks like a drunk spider did it but at least it works.

gavin2281mo ago

@logan658 Hey, that's pretty much how mine turned out too but it held up fine for years, no issues.