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[TowerTalk] Coax Rating

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Subject: [TowerTalk] Coax Rating
From: wa9als@starband.net (WA9ALS - John)
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2001 07:48:33 -0500
> Now throw in typical ham practicalities...

This is about as practical as you can get - I have a 265 ft Carolina
Windom way out over a farm pond.  It has the line isolator that hangs
down about 22 ft from the feed point, and it is RG-58 or RG-8X, I can't
remember.  Because of weight etc, I really couldn't use heavier coax to
run out there over the pond, so I used RG-8X.  So I have "regular" RG-8
going from the shack to a point on the shore of the pond, maybe 60 ft.
Then a barrel connector, then the RG-8X out to the line isolator of the
CW 160.

There is absolutely no problem with full power on limited duty modes
like SSB or CW.  There can be some problems with full duty cycle like
RTTY, and I like to RTTY contest.  However, other parts fail before the
coax!  I have damaged the proprietary balun that comes with the CW160,
apparently due to heat.  After the second failure I finally learned my
lesson and keep it at 500-1000W when QRO.  However, the coax remains
good after 3 years, midwestern winters, and whatever animals walk and
chew on it.

It goes against common sense and maybe against some
calculations/estimates/theories, but I'm just reporting that it works
here, and I don't have much choice with this particular antenna
situation.  The antenna, BTW, is a great performer on all bands and
makes a nice one to use for the mult radio!  73  YMMV

------------------------------------------------------------
John - WA9ALS - VP5RY - VP5/WA9ALS

VP5 photos:  http://www.qsl.net/wa9als/vp5photos.htm
     email:  wa9als@qsl.net
  homepage:  http://www.qsl.net/wa9als (NEW - DX Telnet Setup page!)
   logbook:  http://www.qsl.net/wa9als/search.htm


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