Another question to ask in this discussion is what cables benefit from
being in conduit in YOUR installation. The primary purposes of conduit
are 1) protection of the cables; 2) routing cables around/under/over
obstacles; 3) ease of adding new cables to inaccessible routes; 4)
burying them to make them invisible. .
I have no obstacles, have no visibility issues, so when I 'moved here 7
years ago, tried installing cables on the ground. My on-ground cables
include 1/2-in and 7/8-in Heliax, 1/2-in CATV hardline, Commscope
non-flooded RG6 for two reversible Beverages, and RG213-size coax. So
far I have had no varmint issues, and even the indoor-rated power wiring
I use for the long run for 24V to one rotator have held up OK. I
wouldn't use that indoor-rated cable for 120VAC, but I consider it OK
for 24V. I've even had about 50 ft of one of those RG6 Beverage runs
directly buried for about 6 years.
Installing conduit and pulling cable into conduit adds work and expense.
I put a LOT of EMT (thinwall steel) in the house I owned in Chicago when
I renovated it, and I had it installed in the building that became my
ham shack and office here in W6. I'm glad that I did both. I'm equally
happy that I haven't tried to use any conduit outdoors.
Also, stuff like heliax is pretty resistant to varmints -- my neighbor
K6XX probably has had close to half a mile of it laying on the ground
for many years.
Sometimes we can get away with running cables OVER obstacles like
driveways and sidewalks. Obviously, visibility can be an issue with the
XYL, but so far, I've had pretty good luck hanging dipoles in plain
sight on days when the XYL is out running errands. YMMV. :)
73, Jim K9YC
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