Golly, fellas, this is only going to traverse 50 feet of my back
yard. The only traffic it gets is Jose and his mower, a few
marauding neighbor kids, and a squirrel I would like to zap.
Just in case I was not clear before, this is Times Microwave
LMR 400 ?DB - which I believe is Direct Bury. I do not skimp
on equipment or do the junk meet bargain thing. I know what
you are talking about there.
I thought it was OK to just bury it. I expect I may have to
replace it in a few years. That is not my concern,... I just
don't want it to go bad because I let it sit in water all winter.
Last January the wife and I installed my first transmitting
antennas (in a snow storm so as to enhance reliability) and
just laid the coax (some cheap RG-8X) on the ground under
the snow, and foolishly hoped no one would trip over it.
In the Spring, I rebuilt them all, and hung dipoles in
different directions, so the coax can now hand airborne back
to the deck, and under the deck to the shack, so they are
off the ground now.
My present concern is the yard has a low area running right to
left for water drainage and during the Winter and Spring snow
and rain saturate the soil, and for some time it puddles, and
the coax will run right through that area up the hill to the antenna.
So, I worry about having coax sitting in saturated soil and
standing water for several weeks at a time. Of course, last
year I had that cheap RG-8X in the same situation and it
still works fine.
Some say to just lay it on the surface and disappear into
the thatch. So, if that is OK, then why not bury it about
6 inches down? I thought that would be even better, other
than the water issue would remain.
I did not consider the electrical code... maybe I should?
I am not anticipating inspections. Antenna structures up
to 55 feet are allowed without any regulation, permits or
inspections. Not a very high limit, but total freedom up
to that height. Could be worse... as we well know.
Hope that clarifies my situation. I really appreciate the replies!
================ James =======================
Roger (K8RI) wrote:
>> Are you subject to electrical codes? Or, more to the point, do you
>> want to be code compliant?
> Another question is there any traffic through the area and what kind of
> soil?
> Replace coax when it needs it, not by schedule.
> There are a number of "buriable" cables and then there is "direct bury".
However I'd recommend staying away from
> the cheap cables often found at swaps.
>=======================================================
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