Topband: Deterring Critters

[Garry Shapiro]

My five coax loops that were savaged by toothy critters were all Super 
Flex with a PE jacket. I mentioned this to Press Jones at The Wireman 
and he said PE was marginally better than PVC in this regard, not not 
significantly so. OTOH, flooding might be a good idea.

Garry, NI6T

On 3/13/2012 4:01 PM, Bill Wichers wrote:
> You can get coax with a PE outer jacket, although I think they usually
> use MDPE instead of HDPE for coax. All you need to do is order the
> direct-bury type, which should almost always have a PE jacket. Getting
> the flooded kind will also help if you do get any tooth-holes in your
> cable.
>
> BTW, it's surprisingly reliable to test for a PE jacket using the
> "fingernail scratch test". After you've done it enough times you can
> identify a PE jacket by the "feel" when you scratch it. I know it sounds
> goofy, but it's almost 100% reliable after you get the feel for it. PE
> has a unique feel to it when scratched with an edge (like a fingernail
> :-). Try it and you'll know what I mean. This is handy if you have
> mystery wire and want to test it.
>
>      -Bill
>
>> If we could purchase Coax cable and other smaller wires with the HDPE
>> covering,  life could be easier.   (Also less costly)  The 1000 foot
> roll
>> of
>> telephone cable is worth considering, for now.
>>
>> 73
>> Bruce-K1FZ
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