[TowerTalk] How to connect pieces of coax?

[Fred Hopengarten]

On Thu, 10 May 2001 20:24:59 +0300 "=?ISO-8859-1?B?VPVubm8gVuRoaw==?="
<tonno.vahk@mail.ee> writes:
> I remember having read a comment about VE1ZZ doing it in some of 
> the messages previously...

Dear Tonno:

        I wrote the note you read about "VE1ZZ Splices". I went to visit
him and I was fascinated by how clever he was. He uses scraps of
hardline, just as you propose.  Note that he does not bury these splices,
and he is not worried about intruders messing with his cables. He lives
in rural Nova Scotia, just across the street from the Atlantic Ocean.
W1NA (ex-KA1BQ/I8CZW) and K3BU (ex-VE3BMV/OK3BU) have also been there
subsequently and seen these splices.

1. Point the two pieces of hardline to be spliced toward the sky. Place
enough cabling point up so that snow will not wet the cables, as the
insides of the cables will be exposed.
2. Remove dielectric, tubing and any outer coating -- exposing 2 cm. of
center conductors.
3. Wrap a wire around two center conductors and solder the wire to each.
4. Use a stainless steel muffler clamp (strap with worm screw) to connect
the two pieces of tubing.
5. Place specially prepared soda bottle over splice.
 
Preparing the soda bottle.

1. Empty soda bottles are chosen because they cost nothing and take a
long time to deteriorate outdoors.

2. With a knife, cut a hole on the shoulder of the mouth end. The hole
should be big enough for two pieces of coax to enter easily.

Discussion:

        The soda bottle is tall and will not blow off in a wind. You may
also tie-wrap or tape the bottle's neck to the coax entering the hole
"above". The splice is now protected from direct rain or snow. Air can
circulate because there is a hole for the cables and the original pouring
hole. Loss is low. Cost is almost free (you will need a stainless steel
clamp (stainless steel does not react with either copper tubing or
aluminum tubing).

        This solution saves the cost of very expensive and hard to find
connectors. Attenuation does not seem to be a problem for VE1ZZ, who uses
these splices from 1.8 to 52 MHz.        

Fred Hopengarten K1VR                        
hopengarten@post.harvard.edu
Six Willarch Road * Lincoln, MA 01773-5105
781/259-0088 *eFax 419/858-2421
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