"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message
...
I'm in the midst of working on my transponder install. I've got three
antenna cables running to the radio/transponder panel. Two are for the
Narco Nav/Comm and attach via BNC, the other used to be soldered to the
rack for the old transponder but will now get a BNC fitting as well.

Accidentally swapping the Nav/Comm antenna connectors made little
difference to the radio performance, but now the transponder cable will be
added to the mix and attaching the wrong cable to a device would be bad.

I'll add the appropriate labels to the ends of the cables, but most of the
time, I end up attaching the BNCs by feel. I was wondering if anyone had a
good suggestion for changing the tactile characteristics of the transponder
antenna cable.

In other words, when I reach back and grab the end, I'm going to want to
instantly know it's the transponder cable without being able to read the
label. Any suggestions?

Ron Wanttaja

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Ron,
Unless you have diabetes or have heavily calloused fingertips, you will find
that the tips are quite sensitive to texture - look at the dots used for
Braille alphabet.

I would use simple heat shrink tubing. You could use a larger size that
will slip over the BNC since you don't care about how tightly it fits when
you shrink it. You are just interested in applying one, two, or three
pieces to establish a code that you can read w/fingertips.

Whatever you do, though, make sure the edge isn't all that sharp. I was
working by feel on someone's plane and cut my hand on the sharp end of a
nylon ty-wrap.

Let us know what you decide and how it works out.

Michael Pilla