[TowerTalk] New? Cable

[James C. Hall, MD]

Hello Jim, Gene and gang:

I've been reading this thread with much interest.  I have used all the 
mentioned cables and I have a few observations.  My HF tower is about 
150 ft. from the shack.  I use LMR-600 for the long run from the SPG 
panel (mounted in the garage) to the "dog house" box next to the tower. 
  I use Bury-Flex for the runs up the tower and in close to the rigs. Of 
course LMR-600 is a special case where you have to use a VERY expensive 
crimping tool for the connector - I borrowed one from the local guy 
(also a ham) who puts up cell towers and uses a ton of this stuff !  I 
also have a short tower (about 120 ft. from shack) for satellite 
operation and I use both LMR-400 and the Ultraflex variant - primarily 
for loss considerations on these frequencies at this distance.  All are 
excellent cables.  I used the UF variant from the mast-mounted preamp 
to the antenna as they rotate and elevate.  Connectors whether N or 
PL259's are all soldered.  They go on great with the Bury-Flex and the 
LMR-400 but they are much tougher to get on the UF variant. I end up 
having to hyper-twist the center conductor and file it down to be able 
to fit inside the center conductor barrel of the connector.  If I had 
to do it all over again, I would forget the UF stuff and use Bury-Flex, 
which is very low loss even at UHF frequencies. I would still use the 
solid center conductor LMR-400 for the longer straight(er) runs.

My 2 cents.

73 & Happy Hollidays,

Jamie
WB4YDL