I absolutely hate soldering a new PL-259 onto aany cable. It’s pretty much unavoidable for large-diameter cables like the RG-8. But for smaller cables like the RG-8/U, RG-8/X, and RG-58, we often use a PL-259 with a reducer so we can connect our radios and antennas.
But the wisdom of Motorola engineering gave us the mini-UHF connector. These are on the back of their mobile radios. These are, of course, smaller, and much easier to work with. When I first bought some, I also bought the needed crimper. Expensive but worth it! You can’t crimp these with pliers or wire crimpers. But once I learned how to put them on, I was surprised by how easy it was.
First, put the metal sleve on the coax. Cut the jacket at the 1/2 inch mark. Then, fan out and cut half of the braid off. Your braid should be 1/4″ long. Strip the center conductor. You want your inside insulator to be exposed about 2 mm from the braid and the center conductor should be just long enough to fit inside the center pin. Next, crimp the center pin. Put on the connector, being careful to let the center insulare go in the connector but not the braid. Now pull the sleeve up and over the braid, snug against the rest of the connector. Crimp the sleve and you’re done. There are some helpful pics at https://www.rfparts.com/fileuploader/download/download/?d=0&file=custom%2Fupload%2FFile-1443797133.pdf&srsltid=AfmBOoqqs9n7bFSU_V7rphvp_E4kXAzxe4KjXge7JVFdsrWpKbaB7E3P
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