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Re: [TowerTalk] Coax choice for crank-up - looking for TT experience/rec

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Coax choice for crank-up - looking for TT experience/recommendations
From: "Roger (K8RI) on TT" <K8RI-on-TowerTalk@tm.net>
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2017 01:32:36 -0400
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
I had somewhere between 1500 and 2000 feet of 9913 on a guyed 45G. I believed that a good weatherproofing would do the trick, that is until lightning struck the top of the tower. It not only removed ALL of the weatherproofing, but the silver plating as well, leaving the connectors looking like sandblasted brass. Less than 15 minutes later I had water running out of the 144/440 rig and on to the desktop.
I replaced all of the 9913 with LMR400 and eventually went to LMR600 for 
VHF and UHF.  With only two exceptions, that was the only time I had 
water in the coax. One other time was also with 9913.  The wind blew the 
coax against the end of the shop roof. The edges of those shingles made 
quick work of the jacket, shield, and dielectric.  The other time was 
from using LMR 400UF outdoors as rotator loops. The jacket is a rubber 
like substance, that is easily abraded and quickly becomes porous. Four 
of the 5 pigtails had braid showing where the jacket had worn off 
completely from just laying on the flat top plate of the 45G. UF is not 
recommended for outdoor use and has a projected life of only 10 years, 
half that of the Non UF versions.
73, Roger (K8RI)

On 7/10/2017 Monday 7:32 PM, Steve Maki wrote:
Of course any coax that has a spiral shield or spiral dielectric (like traditional 9913), will *really* take on water, fast. A braided shield will wick water surprisingly fast. Corrugated with hollow center conductor will pipe water down to the bottom end and both ends will be corroded.
Again, they can all be weatherproofed easily.

-Steve K8LX

On 7/10/2017 19:06 PM, I wrote:

Almost any coax will take "take on" water to some extent if you give it a chance. The only exception that I've found is smooth wall hardline, where the closed cell dielectric is *bonded* to both the smooth shield and the smooth center conductor.
Any other style, be it corrugated hardline, braided coax, semi air 
line, whatever, will be ruined if you don't weatherproof the 
connectorized ends.
Apparently there are some folks who don't believe it's possible to 
weatherproof connectors. That is a totally false belief.
-Steve K8LX
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--

73

Roger (K8RI)


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