Having just bought 300ft of WF100, an F-type compression kit and a few other bits n bobs for my rebuild, I was thinking how many of us on here must have tools etc that we only use occasionally, or spare off-cuts of cable etc, or even older parts we’ve upgraded away from…
What do we think to the idea of a “kit loan” thread - people could loan out / request items from other users in the local area?
(“User proximity” table in the fA stats shows we’ve all got other users nearby!).
May be a PITA logistically - just a thought?
(I know some of us “blokes” arent too keen on lending tools out… ).
I have a ton of leftover masonry anchors from getting an antenna bracket onto the side of my brick building. (if the landlord asks, it was like that when I got here).
If you want some, they’re yours. (N.B. Drilling into brick - way more of a PITA than anticipated)
Piece of cake - even with engineering brick - with an SDS drill … excellent for drilling and chiselling masonry (since you can seperate hammer and rotation) , but poor for general purpose work.
See, @JohnHawkes2030 - if only we’d had this a few days ago!
My F-connectors (x50), compression tool (cheap - probably made of cheese ) and double-bladed cutters (slice everything to the right length / depth in one fell swoop!) have turned up today…
Give me a week or so (!) to get mine sorted, than anyone in the Yorks area of UK is free to borrow them.
@Admins - suggest making this thread a sticky, if you agree with the concept?
Well, this was with a rubbish $30 ryobi whatever drill and the bit that came with the anchors, and the work was performed while leaning out of a window, so - in retrospect I don’t know why I expected it to be less of a PITA .
Well, lets keep this on topic: AVAILABLE FOR LOAN IN NYC - 1 $30 ryobi rubbish drill. useful for drilling into rubbish wood and stripping the heads of rubbish screws.
Well, my F-connection compression tool and plugs turned up…
Plugs are the FoxConn type - look really nice quality.
The compression tool is, er… OK.
The “jaws” that the cable fits into (and also act as a stop for the compression “piston”) seem to rely on the tensile strength of the metal to “open” the jaws.
Hence, It’s rather brutal getting the cable in and out!
Did a connection last night (havent actually used it yet) and the process seemed ok - certainly makes a nice, tidy connection!
Elesewhere, I usually dismiss Maplin as “somewhere to go and pay 10x as much for when you cant be arsed to wait” (they sell those inline Sat Amps ’ £15 - same one as I paid for £4 on ebay!).
However , I managed to find a couple of “f-type to BNC” converters (£3.49 each), and a rather nice, ratcheted compression tool for a fiver!