UHF aerial cable joiners

[Toxic_Avenger]

Any advice on aerial cable joiners?
As with the majority of the wiring on my vehicle which I've been undoing (you can read about it >>here<< ) (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/90-110-130-defender-county/197704-meet-my-90-share-adventure-post2670250.html#post2670250), the aerial cable was not spared the installer's penchant of 'bundle it up and stuff it somewhere where the owner won't find it'.


Do such joiners reduce transmission or signal quality?
Currently the aerial cable on mine runs from the aerial, thru the grille, around the firewall (via a stonkin' big bundle of mess), thru firewall and into the radio.
Having the ability to completely remove the front grill of the defender would be good, but not sure if I put a joiner in somewhere, or join and reattach at the radio end or aerial end.

[incisor]

you do lose something at every joint

whether that impacts your particular usage is another matter

is there a screw fitting at the antenna end as well as at the radio end, or is it soldered?

[Disco Muppet]

You need a lossless connector. I have a link for them somewhere

[Toxic_Avenger]

Haven't actually got that far to know what's on the aerial end. It's a GME aerial, unsure of db or whatever measure they use for these things.

[Don 130]

Can't you unsweat the cable from the connector at the back of the radio and pull it out? (unscrew the connector first.) Tape a pull cord onto it if you want to pull it back through later. I'm no expert, but I think a join will bugger up the shielding which is vital to good function of the cable, and therefore the radio.
Don.

[Toxic_Avenger]

Being a shielded cable was my biggest concern. If the quality would suffer incredibly, then I'd cut the cable back down to the right length once it's routed in a way which allows me to remove the grille more easily

[incisor]

Coaxial Connectors & Adaptors (http://www.prestigecom.net.au/uhf-cb-accessories/coaxial-connectors-amp-adaptors)

pick your poison...

UHF CB Australia - Coax Connectors Made Easy (http://uhfcb.com.au/Coax-Connectors-Made-Easy.php)

not much to it...

[Tombie]

If you have a heap of coax then trimming it down will reduce loss of about 0.4db per meter.

Changing to RG316 will improve performance over RG58U.

And if you need to fit a joiner - use an N type connector - constant impedance, therefore much more stable

[Don 130]

This (https://www.gme.net.au/media/1707991/general-land-antenna-installation-instruction.pdf)may help

Don.

[AK83]

..... the aerial cable was not spared the installer's penchant of 'bundle it up and stuff it somewhere where the owner won't find it'.
......
Having the ability to completely remove the front grill of the defender would be good, but not sure if I put a joiner in somewhere, or join and reattach at the radio end or aerial end.

I wouldn't use a joiner anywhere between the aerial and the radio. It's best practise to use a connector only at those two ends.
But going from that description above about 'stuffing it somewhere', I'd be inclined to turf the coax and start again(ie. could be damaged already!).
At less that $2/meter, you'd be mad not too. At about $2 each for the two N-type connectors, it's not an overly expensive exercise.
Coax doesn't like sharp bends, so you'd get yourself 3-ish meters of new coax and keep the run as short and straight as possible. Of course dependent on where the radio box is relative to the aerial.
Stay away from potential interference noises such as high end power cables (battery leads!).
Always solder the inner(conductor) core. I use heatshrink on the outer sheath of the cable over external connectors too.

[Tombie]

Being UHF I doubt it has N-type connectors.

More likely PL259 or BNC...

N-type at least is constant if you do need a join. Something to consider if you have a D3/D4/RRS as body off work requires the ability to disconnect anything running to bar work!

[AK83]

Being UHF I doubt it has N-type connectors.

More likely PL259 ....

LOL! Early morning brainfade on my part .. of course PL259 connector. Too many hours work, not enough of them for sleep! :p

I'm just thinking tho for the OP, being a GME aerial, the two that I've had in my UHF time, both have had directly connected cable runs at the aerial end.
Which usually means that you'd need a connector only at the radio end.
What many folks would probably do is to chop the cable at a short distance from the aerial and fit a connector to make life easier for the cable run after the initial install.