‰  NOW 40 WPM  ‰  
LOGGING RELATED DEFAULTS.  MANY OF THESE ARENT EXPLAINED CLEARLY, AND THE
DEVELOPER DOESNT HAVE EXTENSIVE DOCUMENTATION ON EVERY SINGLE SETTING.
ALTHOUGH THERE IS A LEARNING CURVE, A MAJORITY OF THE SETTINGS WILL ALREADY
BE FAMILIAR WITH THOSE WHO HAVE USED OTHER LOGGING APPLICATIONS.  THE
HAMLOG WEBSITE CLEARLY STATES THIS APPLICATION IS NOT MEANT TO REPLACE A
MORE FORMAL METHOD OF LOGGING SUCH AS A COMPUTER BASED LOGGING APPLICATION
OR THE CLASSIC PAPER METHOD.  IT IS MORE

BEEN TESTED WITH JUST THREE TYPES OF RG8X DX ENGINEERING DXE 8X, BELDEN
9258, AND TIMES LMR 240.  I TRIED IT WITH DXE 8X SEE FIGURE 11.  RG 8X USES
A STANDARD PL 259 WITH A REDUCER THAT SCREWS INTO THE BACK OF THE CONNECTOR
SHELL.  FOR RG 8X, THE 1ST CUT REMOVES THE CABLES OUTER JACKET.  THEN, YOU
FOLD THE BRAID BACK OVER THE OUTER JACKET TO EXPOSE THE CENTER CONDUCTOR
AND DIELECTRIC.  TURN THE TOOL AROUND AND USE THE OTHER END TO STRIP THE
DIELECTRIC FROM THE CENTER CONDUCTOR.  NEXT, SLIDE THE REDUCER UP TO THE
END OF THE CABLE AND TRIM THE BRAID BACK SO THAT IT IS CLEAR OF THE REDUCER
THREADS.  SCREW THE REDUCER INTO THE PL 259 BODY AND SOLDER THE BRAID AND
CENTER CONDUCTOR.  THE RG 8X TOOLS STRIPPED THE CABLE CLEANLY EVERY TIME.
THE INSTRUCTIONS SAY THAT WITH LMR 240, THE TOOL MAY LEAVE SOME DIELECTRIC
ON THE CENTER CONDUCTOR.  IF THAT HAPPENS, ITS EASY ENOUGH TO CLEAN OFF.
FINAL THOUGHTS  AFTER MAKING SOME NEW CABLES FOR MY STATION, I HUNTED
AROUND MY GARAGE FOR SOME RANDOM CABLE SCRAPS TO TRY.  I KNEW I SAVED THIS
STUFF FOR A REASON.  NONE OF THE PIECES I FOUND WERE ON THE APPROVED LIST
IN THE MANUAL.  LMR 400UF THE ULTRA FLEXIBLE VERSION WITH THE SOFT JACKET

INSTALL THAN A PL 259.  THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IN CABLE PREP IS THAT YOU NEED
TO SHORTEN THE CENTER CONDUCTOR AND USE THE INCLUDED DXE UT 80N CONNECTOR
ASSEMBLY TOOL TO THREAD THE CONNECTOR BODY ONTO THE CABLE.  ALL OF THE
TOOLS WORKED WELL.  THE ONE ISSUE I HAD WAS THAT SOMETIMES THE DXE UT 8213
FIRST CUT DID NOT REMOVE ALL OF THE DIELECTRIC FROM THE CENTER CONDUCTOR.
SOMETIMES, IT LEFT A VERY THIN LAYER THAT I HAD TO REMOVE BEFORE
PROCEEDING.  THAT WAS EASY ENOUGH TO DO BECAUSE THE TOOL HAD ALREADY
REMOVED THE BULK OF THE MATERIAL.  I THOUGHT THAT PERHAPS THE CUTTING BLADE
WAS DULL AND REPLACED IT TWO SPARES AND AN ALLEN WRENCH ARE INCLUDED IN THE
KIT, BUT THAT MADE NO DIFFERENCE.  I CONTACTED DX ENGINEERING AND QUICKLY
RECEIVED SOME HINTS FROM TOM PARKINSON, KB8UUZ.  HE EXPLAINED THAT THE TOOL
DEPENDS ON TIGHT DIMENSIONAL TOLERANCES TO CUT CORRECTLY, AND THAT THERE
CAN BE SMALL VARIATIONS IN THE CABLE ITSELF.  ALSO, SOMETIMES THE
DIELECTRIC MATERIAL WORKS ITS WAY INTO THE CENTER CONDUCTOR STRANDS, MAKING
IT HARDER TO REMOVE.  TOM ALSO EMPHASIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKING SURE THE
CABLE IS STRAIGHT, THE END IS ROUND, AND THE CABLE IS INSERTED STRAIGHT
INTO THE STRIPPING TOOL.  FINALLY, TOM SUGGESTED MORE PRACTICE.  PREPARING
RG 8X THE KIT ALSO INCLUDES A DXE UT 808X STRIPPING TOOL AND DXE CG 8X
CABLE GRIPPER FOR RG 8X.  THE INSTRUCTIONS SAY THAT THE STRIPPING TOOL HAS
‰  END OF 40 WPM TEXT  ‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ