Towertalk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [TowerTalk] Coax Losses on 160 and 75?

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Coax Losses on 160 and 75?
From: "Jeff AC0C" <keepwalking188@ac0c.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2016 01:57:27 +0800
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
The fellow originally asked what coax to run. I have a comment there. RG11 is fine.

If you say it's a budget consideration, and it's 80/160, and it does not need to last 100 years, then lay that RG11 out there and rock and roll. You may not even need to treat the 50/75 ohm bump, and if you do, it's simple as well.

I've got about 300 foot of it running off to the north end of my property here to feed the 80/160 transmit vertical. Been laying on the ground for the last 4 years - oh, on a "temporary" basis. There is another strip of it for a 30m vertical dipole. And a bunch more feeding a 40m dipole in the trees. Oh, and the 4-square has RG11 as well.

The one issue that is worth mentioning is making a solid contact with the rather lousy shield that RG11 has, at least the stuff I have. It's the essence-of-braid wrapped around some foil. I used crimp connectors (the braid is aluminum) and that allows you to make a solid electrical bond. You can't wiggle the coax around like you can with a copper braid though so make sure you weatherproof and strain-relief it.

73/jeff/ac0c
www.ac0c.com
alpha-charlie-zero-charlie

-----Original Message----- From: Jim Brown
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2016 1:35 AM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Coax Losses on 160 and 75?

On Sat,8/6/2016 4:35 AM, Jim Thomson wrote:
My dummy load does not have a mismatch, coax is 50 ohms, swr is  1:1
at each end of the coax, and there is no reflected power..at either end. T

Jim,

The actual Zo of coax is NOT constant with frequency, and it is not a
REAL number -- it is complex, of the form R +/- jX. The value of Zo
CONVERGES to its nominal value at VHF, but at lower frequencies, it's a
different value. You can see computed numbers for many common cables in
N6BV's TLW software, which comes free on the CD that is packed with the
ARRL Antenna Book. The accuracy of Dean's data has been questioned, but
the concept is quite correct.

SO -- coax that we CALL 50 ohm coax can have a Zo of 52 + j 2, so a 50
ohm resistor is NOT a perfect match. This variation from the "nominal"
value is greatest at lower frequencies.

73, Jim

_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>