Lost a whole day of work troubleshooting a bad coax connector last Tuesday

I was out at KPDX in Portland tracing a VOR reception issue on a CRJ-700 and swapped three antenna cables before I found the problem was just a loose BNC barrel. That little connector cost me 8 billable hours and had the plane sitting on the ramp. Any of you guys carry spare coax barrels in your kit for situations like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

rubysingh29d ago

10 bucks says that loose BNC barrel is still rolling around in someone's hangar floor right now. @josepha32 that reminds me of how my buddy once spent 45 minutes chasing a dead outlet in his garage only to find the breaker was just tripped by a bad extension cord. It's always the tiny stupid stuff that eats up the most time. Honestly I think the universe does that on purpose to humble us when we think we're too good for basic checks.

the_kim28d ago

I mean honestly I keep a spare barrel in my wallet now like it's a condom for my coax cables. That thing probably costs less than the gas I burned driving back and forth to the supply house. But hey, at least you got to practice your cable swapping skills for the next time it happens, which it definitely will.

josepha3229d ago

Man that BNC barrel thing hits close to home. I lost a whole Saturday last year at KLAX because a barrel had a hairline crack you couldn't even see unless you bent it just right. Now I keep three extras taped inside my toolbox lid with some electrical tape. It's stupid how something that costs less than a coffee can kill your whole day.