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Re: [TowerTalk] Re; vertical base impedance

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Re; vertical base impedance
From: "Joe Subich, W4TV" <lists@subich.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2025 16:30:24 -0400
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>

No disagreement ... *BUT* make sure the capacitor is rated to handle
at least 10A of RF CURRENT (or more with a short, heavily loaded)
vertical.  The feedpoint of a vertical is a high current, low voltage
point - the shorter the vertical, the lower the radiation resistance
and the higher the required current.  The voltage handling is only
important in the ability to withstand static/lightning.

73,

   ... Joe, W4TV


On 2025-03-17 4:12 PM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:
It is very poor practice to make a capacitor out of a long piece of tiny coax.  It will be very lossy (conductor loss, not the teflon dielectric).  It is easy to simulate the bad news with Simsmith, etc. It is also easy to buy a 1206 NPO (Q>1000) 1000pF 1000V 1% capacitor from Digikey, etc. for less than $1.

73
Rick N6RK

On 3/17/2025 12:42 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:


On 2025-03-17 2:01 PM, ARTHUR BERNSTEIN via TowerTalk wrote:

For a capacitor I used a long length of Teflon, thin coax @ 39 pf/ft
 > (?)Actually coiled it up on a 1” form.

Do you mean 29 pf per foot?  That's typical for the small diameter
50 Ohm coax - RG58, RG303, RG316, RG393, RG400, etc.

 > Total capacitance was about 1000pf +/-.

With capacitance that high (reactance that low), one would be better
served to calculate the length of cable as an open stub (even if it
is rolled up) rather than simply as capacitance per unit length.

 > It might have been  RG-302 or similar 50 ohm? Very thin, 1/8”?

RG303 is 0.17", RG316 is .098", RG400 is 0.195" and RG393 is 0.39"





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