Jeff: I've used the Commscope smooth wall professionally, and it was
hard to work with BUT it had significantly lower losses than the
corrugated copper lines.At 2.4 GHz, we could use 7/8" smooth instead
of 1-1/4" corrugated. I do agree, the corrugated copper is easier to
bend and route, but one (hopefully) only has to do that once. The
aluminium cable that failed you-- was it Trilogy? Their construction
methods differ substantially from other manufacturers. On one job
where underground tunnels were flooded, all the copper coax (it was
radiating coax, so not the best example) by Andrew and RFS had to be
replaced, but the Trilogy did not. Some connectors had some water, but
they cleaned up and the water did not migrate down the cable. As for
PIM, copper is usually a bit better than aluminium, but the difference
is not particularly relevant in most ham use. I'm not even sure if
Trilogy is less expensive than copper. I wasn't touting cost -- just
resistance to water migration. Take a look at Trilogy cables and how
their construction differs from other AL and CU cables. Water entering
cables seems to be a recurring topic here and keeps coming back.so I
wanted to offer a solution not yet mentioned here I would think a dry
aluminium cable would outperform a wet copper cable! One other point
-- should a Trilogy cable get damaged, and water gets in, only a small
section would need to be cut out and spliced. Except for the splice,
it is good as new. I still use a lot of copper, but Trilogy is another
tool in the tool chest. --Mike, WV2ZOW
On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 1:06 PM, Jeff DePolo <jd0@broadsci.com> wrote:
>> With all this talk of water migration, I'm surprised there is no
>> mention of Trilpgy cable. They guarantee it against water migration!
>> They do not have a good superflexible product, however. It's even made
>> in USA. http://www.trilogycoax.com/ --73, Mike, WV2ZOW
>
> Unless they've come out with something since then, last time we looked at
> using or stocking Trilogy we decided not to as they only made smooth-wall
> aluminum shield cables. As far as smooth-wall, we had enough headaches with
> Commscope smooth-wall cables that I'm not looking to go back to using
> anything smooth-wall. And having had problems with PIM and reduced
> longevity with aluminum cables, including a fairly-recent failure that
> required two 550 foot runs of 1-5/8" aluminum-shielded cable to be replaced,
> we avoid aluminum and stick with copper.
>
> By the way, Commscope has put an end to their smooth-wall cable line (FXL
> series), having already discontinued most of the line and/or putting what
> remains on EOL. Good riddance as far as I'm concerned.
>
> In the ham world, maybe risk vs reward leads to others chosing to use
> cheap(er) cable, but call me old fashioned, I'll just stick with what I know
> works...my time is worth much more than any slight savings in materials
> cost.
>
> --- Jeff WN3A
>
>
>
> ---
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