Just realized a trick for getting those stubborn BNC connectors on the old Collins radios to seat right

I was working on a King Air 200 in Tulsa last week and the VHF comm kept dropping. I tried everything, even swapped the unit, but the issue came back. On a hunch, I cleaned the connector threads with a tiny bit of DeoxIT and gave it a full turn past finger tight with a small wrench. The static cleared up completely. Has anyone else found a fix for those finicky old Collins connectors?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamie9403d ago

So the secret to old Collins radios is just a little more elbow grease and magic spray?

jade_jenkins3d ago

Oh man, I read a whole forum thread about this. It's like half the time the old capacitors are just tired and need replacing, not magic spray. Someone said cleaning the bandswitch with the right contact cleaner fixed their totally dead receiver. But yeah, sometimes it really is just cleaning off decades of dust and grime to get it going again.

patricia_gonzalez3d ago

Totally agree. Spot on, @jamie940. It's not magic, it's just basic contact maintenance everyone forgets. Those old connectors get a film on them and lose their bite. A proper clean and a solid mechanical connection fixes like 80% of the weird dropouts. People jump to swapping boxes when the fix is often right at the port.