PSA: Stop over-tightening compression fittings on RG6

Honestly, I used to crank them down as hard as I could until I had a return call last Tuesday where the signal dropped out completely. Turns out that crushes the dielectric and kills the impedance. I only hand tighten plus a quarter turn now.

3 comments

3 Comments

adam_patel7d ago

Only hand tighten plus a quarter turn" - you mean you don't bring an impact driver to your coax fittings? Amateur hour over here.

rubyshah7d ago

Honestly though, I gotta push back on that a little. Hand tightening plus a quarter turn is plenty for coax fittings, you're not building a suspension bridge. Going ham with an impact driver is just asking to strip the threads or crack the connector, especially on older gear. I've seen more people mess up their signal by over tightening than by leaving it a little loose. @adam_patel might be onto something with the gentle touch approach.

lunaf676d ago

Guilty as charged, I'm the guy who used a full-sized wrench on an F-connector once because I thought 'a little extra torque' meant 'give it the full dad strength'. Spoiler alert: it didn't end well, and I spent an hour trying to unscrew a mangled mess while my wife asked if I was building a radio tower or just trying to watch ESPN. Hand tightening plus a quarter turn sounds like amateur hour until you've had to explain to your neighbor why your cable signal is spotty because you reenacted a pit crew drill on the coax. At this point, I'm pretty sure my gentle touch is just scared of its own shadow, but hey, at least my connectors aren't crying for help anymore.