What is a good working rule for the life expectancy of decent quality RG-213? I have a lot of it around here, and it is difficult to measure loss in situ. Jackets still seem fine, but wonder if it's
Pete, Beg, borrow, buy a TDR and look at it that way. Most coax will last many more years than people believe. Problems occur from moisture ingress, but, if trimmed when necessary, will do just fine.
Hi Don What makes coax turn black anyway?? I was checking some feedlines here and some off-brand RG8X I have and the center conductor and the sheild turned both black. It was not just at the ends but
Pete, I have about 150 ft going to my TH-6. I purchased it in the early 1970's and have used the same cable at three QTH. When I installed the tower at this QTH, (14 years ago) I cut about 3 inches o
Moisture reacts with trace contamination in the plastic or there are other trace compounds that oxidize the copper. There are so many variables in off-brand coax, who knows what it is. On the other h
Tom, Sounds like the jacket is NOT non-contaminating and has caused the problem. Quite often, that occurs with CHEAP coax brands, especially those 'bargain box' brands that come from U-NO-WHERE. I st
I've got coax in use made by a number of manufacturers. Some is RG8 some 213, some other numbers and some unidentifiable. Most of the RG8 was picked up in 1954 as surplus and some is still good and i
An MFJ antenna analyzer, such as the 259B, can also measure coax loss. Jim N7US --Original Message-- When I have a coax problem and it is not readily discernable I TDR it with a Tektronix 1502. Pinpo
Last year, I helped N6RZ's widow clean out his shack and dismantle his antennna farm. There was a lot of coax, almost of all of it good stuff -- Belden, Times, and Amphenol, and a few pieces of off b
You can determine loss fairly closely with a decent vswr measurement. If you can disconnect or short the coax at the far end, the vswr measurement can be converted to return loss and actual loss is o
Tom and all, very few 8X cables are made with non-contaminating jackets. I don't have a Belden reference here but I would be surprised if their's is non-contaminating. Quite a few years ago, I had 8X
One thing no one has mentioned so far is that when the shield oxidizes, the wires may no longer make good electrical contact with each other. I have heard that the coax loses it's shielding effective
with Books have been written on the this. The classic is by Tsalovich (I own it, but can't lay my hands on it right now to verify the spelling of his name), and it goes into great detail about shield