Vent: My uncle's 'advice' about coax connectors almost grounded a plane

He swore you could just crimp a BNC connector with standard pliers if you 'really put your back into it', which I tried on a nav antenna line in a pinch. The intermittent fault it created had us chasing ghosts for two days before a senior tech spotted my mangled work. Anyone else have a family member who's confidently wrong about our specific tools?

3 comments

3 Comments

black.pat1mo ago

Uncles are a special kind of confidently wrong.

simon_coleman1mo ago

Got a text from my nephew last week trying to explain my own job to me. I was three paragraphs deep into a wrong answer before I realized he was right.

murphy.blair1mo ago

Uncle wisdom is a special kind of dangerous, but I gotta gently push back on the BNC thing. You can actually get a decent crimp with regular pliers if you use the right die insert and take your time, but "putting your back into it" is exactly how you crush the center pin and create that intermittent hell you described. The real trick is knowing when to walk away and grab the proper tool from the truck instead of trying to save a trip. Sounds like your uncle means well but is mixing up "I've gotten away with this before" with actual best practice.