Instruction manual

FMLP1 • 15
 20. Cut the 10” piece of RG-188A coax into two 5” pieces.
When we are finished preparing the cable in the next few steps, all four
ends should look similar to this:
 21. Very carefully strip off the outer insulation on one end of a piece of
coax about 1/2” back from the end. Be careful not to remove any of the
outside ground shield braid. This is a gentle procedure, so take your time.
Use a sharp razor knife like an X-acto blade and lightly cut through the
coax's white insulation. Slip off the insulation to expose the coax braid. If
you run into trouble and cut too deep into the coax, clip off the damaged
end and do it again.
 22. Lightly tin the entire exposed ground braid to form a cylinder on the
exposed end. Similar results can be seen in the picture above. Do not
unbraid the ground conductor and twist it together like the one shown
below.
 23. Place the coax pieces flat on the table and use your razor to gently
score a ring around the tinned ground conductor about 1/4” from the end.
This is easily done by positioning the razor and rolling the coax on the table
top with your fingers while lightly pressing on the blade.
 24. Snap off the 1/4” end of unwanted ground conductor by bending the
cylinder with a pair of pliers near the score mark. It should snap off easily,
otherwise score the ground conductor again but take care not to cut too
deep.
 25. Next we will score through the inner insulation layer using the same
table top role method used with the ground braid. Score the white inner
insulation layer with the razor knife about 3/16
th
of an inch from the end.
 26. Remove the unwanted piece of insulation and twist the inner conductor
wires together. Tin the wire ends by gently heating the conductor and then
Proper Coax
Preparation
Poor Coax
Preparation