{"id":9537,"date":"2023-05-14T14:23:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T04:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2023\/05\/14\/solderbaloney-and-soldertruth\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T18:02:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T08:02:24","slug":"solderbaloney-and-soldertruth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2023\/05\/14\/solderbaloney-and-soldertruth\/","title":{"rendered":"SolderBaloney and SolderTruth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"247\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mBB-ZxCdC2E?rel=0\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"440\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>This is so nuts that it actually had me checking to see if this was possibly an April 1 joke. But alas, it was put out on March 30 and is apparently quite serious. Rogier PA1ZZ sent me this. I think his reaction was the same as mine. My message to Rogier: <\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><br \/><\/b><\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><b><i>Ha! He misses the key point: HOW MANY OXYGEN MOLECULES ARE IN THE SOLDER? Here at the SolderSmoke Laboratories we only use oxygen-free solder. And wire. Sounds MUCH better. <\/i><\/b><b><i>Just kidding. I think this is audio-fool hogwash. I&#8217;m sure my friend Ron WA6YOU (a real solder expert) will agree. How dare this guy in the video besmirch the name of good ole 60\/40 Kester! And even at the local high school, Dean and I were pleased to find that all the students and their teacher had already REJECTED lead-free solder. Also, this guy seems to think that the lead has been replaced by silver. Dude, that would be some expensive solder! His explanation of rosin is, I think, kind of shaky. Thanks for sharing Rogier. 73 Bill <\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><b><br \/><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b>Next I suppose we&#8217;ll have recommendations on how different solder mixes can produce different audio effects: &#8220;For a more mellow sound, go with 60\/38 and 2 percent copper!&#8221; <\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><br \/><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b>I immediately sent this to my friend Ron WA6YOU, a noted expert on this subject: <\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><br \/><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b>Ron&#8217;s response: <\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><br \/><\/b><\/div>\n<div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><i>OMG!!!!! I don&#8217;t know where to start and I haven&#8217;t even had breakfast yet. First off Sn60\/Pb40 contains NO silver and melts at 361 F and yes I do have my irons in class set to 800 F. Today in my classes I use Sn63\/Pb37 since it is Eclectic&#8230;.it is either solid or liquid and no in between. For the cables I build for the satelittes (center pin of SMA male connectors), I use KESTOR Sn62\/Pb36\/Ag02 which is only 2% silver and called silver bearing. You can still buy it on Amazon. As for flux, I use Kester RMA186 liquid and contrary to Paul, it does not &#8220;make the solder melt&#8221;&#8230;.it basically de-oxidizes and provides a path for the solder to flow. The flux inside the solder melts at 347 F&#8230;..BEFORE the solder melts at 361 F thus making the path for flow. Remember when we were kids and had the little round can of Kester flux that you would dip into?<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><i> <\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><i>FYI: To solder the pin of an SMA connector I do NOT rely on the flux inside the solder&#8230;.Prior to inserting the center conductor of the RG-316\/DS (mil-spec double shield teflon) I apply a &#8220;dropllet&#8221; of RMA186 on the 7 stranded wire tip and insert it into the pin&#8230;..next I apply another &#8220;droplet&#8221; into the inspection hole (not called a solder hole). Then I put a droplet of silver bearing solder on the PIN TIP of my iron and apply it directly to the hole in the pin&#8230;..magnification is definitely needed. The solder flows into the hole and I tell my students that if you don&#8217;t see an outline of the inspection hole, then you used too much solder and the pin will not insert into the into the body of the SMA. I can make 6 to 8 cables an hour and all are within 1 (ONE!!!) MM tolerance in lengths. If they want a cable 138 mm long from connector front to front, then it can&#8217;t be 137 or 139 mm&#8230;..yep I can do that and I would love to show you all sometime. And yes I crimp the ferrule. I have 8 birds in space and the last three have 80 cables each of mine made in my basement. <\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><i><br \/><\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><i>I am just waiting for the day when some USG safety officer comes into my class and has me surrender all &#8220;lead solder&#8221; and have to replace it with SAC305. See my handouts below from my lesson plan. Let me demo this for you all sometime. It is said that I can put a Type-N male connector on a garden hose&#8230;&#8230;HI HI.<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><i> <\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><i>Thanks for the link and remember&#8230;..The US is one of the few countries still using lead. Hoard your lead solder&#8230;..the day is coming.<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><i><br \/><\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><i>73 de Ron, WA6YOU<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><i><br \/><\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\"><b><\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1684071774991blob.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"360\" data-original-width=\"480\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1684071774991blob.png\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1684071815241blob.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"360\" data-original-width=\"480\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1684071815241blob.png\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1684071831457blob.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"360\" data-original-width=\"480\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1684071831457blob.png\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1684071874018blob.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"360\" data-original-width=\"480\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1684071874018blob.png\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<p><\/b><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;\">\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEgcEDOVWdWd3pYEXIlPdoPaaSQmfZJMFI7FdRQIbgXOTmugU4Dbt-vnO-JtZF__vEfVu05P7OjHHhDJhq48vonROxcfvTbMb70ekupthnZgw-3Ltsojp9fyhkG1NYz3_X1fOmwNyNk_XFTQ31lMBss8ShnJbfFdj7K68pYZgUdOCJESN88Jc_iPhodS\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-original-height=\"3024\" data-original-width=\"4032\" height=\"283\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image_1753116164.png\" width=\"378\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">Solder and flux in use at N2CQR<\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/a\/AVvXsEiRMcBOZguh3YhSdrXQXG6PUnpj-SKhFUuhCpKS4D7RA8CETUR6mupV8X-bbNk7aaLSl_1syuKGrX-c6YNkJmA_f5LKb0lOWvEOHxmAF3oqMP2VdmeIuW__zbise8Q1o5YlDrKFvXcoPLTxkazbLrJLuqP3xXZDM0LmcJ5teruGio8hNvO2RJFO19fu\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-original-height=\"919\" data-original-width=\"650\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image_1753116159.png\" width=\"377\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">By Jeff Murray K1NSS (2014)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is so nuts that it actually had me checking to see if this was possibly an April 1 joke. But alas, it was put out on March 30 and is apparently quite serious. Rogier PA1ZZ sent me this. I think his reaction was the same as mine. My message to Rogier: Ha! He misses &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2023\/05\/14\/solderbaloney-and-soldertruth\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;SolderBaloney and SolderTruth&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-audio-amplifiers","category-solder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9544,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9537\/revisions\/9544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}