MPD Digital PL259 Male Crimp Connector for RG8x, Mini 8, LMR240 for UHF/VHF/CB/Ham Radios and Antennas (Bag of 6)

These connectors should work well for my application.

I messed up, not the vendor.Edit: Seemed cheap, because I messed up! I got it for the wrong cable! That would be why it didn't fit well! Works fine on the correct cable. Will purchase from vendor again.Intitial reiview: Functional, but cheap quality. Not sure how they will hold up. Probably won't buy again.

OK, I had to put a little spit on the RG8X to slide the crimp sleeve down over the coax - tight! So, the first three, the outer cover slid up with the sleeve and made a bump at the PL239, and I could not force the sleeve over the PL239 and the wire. I had to pull the outer cable forcefully toward the cut end and then use the cable stripper. Worked like a charm. I only wrecked two before I figured out the trick. Spent a day in my attic (August!!) but got my antenna working with this gadget. Really beats soldering!

2 years ago I started my switch from solder-on (pin/braid) and solder/crimp, to Crimp/Crimp type RF connectors. So far I've tested connectors from DX Engineering, MPD Digital, and a few from Max-Gain Systems, most of which have worked well, and held up to use. I tend to prefer the MPD Digital connectors, though I can't give a specific reason other than my own experience: everything I have bought from MPD has been very high-quality, and I don't have to wonder if it will still work in a year. So if peace of mind is a reason, I guess I do have one after all.

I'm using these to replace all of my coaxial cables in my ham radio shack with LMR240. The nature of the LMR240 cable means that it's more difficult to work with using conventional braid soldering techniques. I looked at a bunch of crimp-on alternatives and settled on this one as being not too expensive, not too cheap and I wasn't critical about having to solder the centre conductor (which you DO with this connector).They crimped on easily and held their grip, using a standard, run-of-the-mill crimper that works with RG-59 (Mine is old enough that it says, "MADE IN TAIWAN" on the handle and I bought it at RS decades ago!).The connectors are great quality and work with every SO-239 connector I've tried them with.

This is just a simple coax connector and I wouldn't normally take the time to review something so simple. But, I want to take the opportunity sing the praises of this vendor, MPD Digital (a.k.a USA Coax). These days most cable and connectors come from China and the quality can vary from horrible to pretty good with no way for a consumer to really judge.MPD cables are USA made and the connectors are first quality. Their reputation in the Ham radio community is top notch. K9BRS

I've ordered these multiple times. They are much easier to use than solder connectors, although a little solder is needed for the center conductor. The rest is by crimping. I use heat shrink tubing also to cover the crimp ring.

As other reviewers have mentioned (I need to learn the read the reviews before ordering ;-) ), the hole in the pin is too small for the 19 strand #16 center conductor. I drilled the pin out (5/64" drill) and soldered the pin. It worked OK but this is my last purchase of this part.