Finally realized my crimp tool was set wrong for 2 years

I was getting intermittent signal loss on a 737 nav install and a senior tech pointed out my coax crimps had a slight bump. Turns out I had the die set for RG400 instead of RG142 the whole time. Anybody else catch a basic mistake way later than they should have?

3 comments

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3 Comments

jessica_miller2mo ago

A 1dB bump in VSWR isn't going to crash a plane. The margin on those nav systems is wide enough that a minor crimp imperfection is mostly a theoretical problem. I've seen factory RG142 crimps look worse than that and still pass functional tests.

2

jade7382mo ago

Whoa, factory RG142 can look worse than that?!

1

cameronb522mo ago

Tried a cheap compression crimper once and it looked ten times worse but still worked fine.

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