What good is a shiny J-pole antenna if you can’t connect it to your radio? It makes a nice sculpture — a “copper cactus” — but it won’t help much with reception. So for our latest SPARC build, the club met at the garage of Bob WB6YJJ to put our soldering skills to the test. Bob and Tim WA0PTC guided us through the process of soldering UHF connectors, also known as PL-259 connectors, to lengths of RG-8X coaxial cable. With some patience and steady hands, everyone went home with new, handmade cables to hook up and get on the air.
