How much is "affordable?" I mean, if you pay junk money, you'll
probably get ... disappointment either right away or after a few
months.
A possible exception is some place warm all year with no broadcast
stations nearby, so fixing and improving any time is easy. OTOH if
you are in blizzard country, a budget priced loop may decide to quit
working during snowmageddon. Consider a sturdy mount too.
BTW, while I'm dispensing free advice, if you power your loop preamp
via the feedline, use some sort of copper coax that can be soldered.
The RG6 aluminum stuff with crimp males will fail eventually -- okay
for RF but not DC. Eventually there will be just enough corrosion at
the surfaces where the crimps are, that you'll get just enough v. drop
and the preamp won't come on.
For RF and RG6, it is important that you get quad shield (yes even on
160) and make sure the males match the coax. The crimp tool,
connectors and coax should all be made to go with each other. One
trick is to look for a cable TV guy who's out on a job with a truck
and approach him. My experience is that they don't mind talking for a
few minutes about their tools and materials after you explain why you
are interested. Find out what he uses for "drop cable," crimper,
prep tool, and plugs. Companies like Comcast don't use junk. Then go
get what he uses.
73
Rob
K5UJ
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