Topband: Zo of an individual CAT5 twisted pair

[Mike Waters]

Maybe I'm too easily entertained, but I think it would be fun to try 1500W+
through it on 160 sometime. Years ago, I did that with RG-58C/U on 10
meters. Just because I could. :-)

Not that I plan on using CAT5 cable for anything except my LAN here, but it
might actually surprise us. I've ran over 1500w solid carrier through an F
junction on 160 --F-6, two F plugs, and a double-female connector-- until I
could smell the dummy load oil under the bench. I could not discern any
temperature rise in the connectors or cable whatsoever.


And FWIW, the RG58C/U (rated for 600w at 30 MHz) DID get warm indoors on
10m, yes. It actually became a lot more flexible.

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com

On Mon, Aug 12, 2013 at 12:33 PM, Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>wrote:

>
> As to power handling and loss -- at these frequencies, its all copper
> loss, and CAT5 is pretty small cable. We don't care about modest losses in
> RX antennas, but it's a different story for TX.
>