Edit: ^ Doh! What he said as I was typing.I was using an iron.
This is key with connectors. I use medium grit sandpaper to knock the finish off the connector and adapter (if you're using one). Rough up the plating around the outside of the adapter and around the groove where you're soldering on the body of the PL-259. That nickel plating is like kryptonite to the solder. You are using a plenty big soldering iron, so it should have enough heat and things should flow quickly.I did not scotch brite any surfaces.
Never file the tip of a soldering iron.There are a couple of products that work very well for cleaning iron tips look for "tip tinner" It comes in a small round tin and is a mix of RHA (rosin Highly Activated) and solder powder. Hakko also makes a neat product that looks like a kitchen "Gorilla Pad"Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I was attempting to solder RG58 coax to a PL 259 with adapter. I have plenty of iron as suggested, large tip probable 175-200watt range.
I filed and recoated the tip before begining. I should have quit a good enough. At the end I lost some of the solder and it got on the outside threads of the connector. Without a solder remover I attempted to heat and tap the excess solder off. Ended up melting the coax insulation going into the adapter/connector. I was trying to use a vise grips as a heat sink which may have made it more difficult.
I think my major mistake was using incorrect solder/ no flux. I was using Rosen Core.
Pretining would help.
I did not scotch brite any surfaces.
I read some information on some ham sites before attempting and followed the Larson instructions in the NMO mount.
I look at the videos provided and try again.
Thanks again for all of the help.
73 Dan