[TowerTalk] CAT 5 as Rotator cable

[Pete Smith]

At 10:14 AM 6/23/2004, you wrote:
>This thread is getting quite long in the tooth.  However, it caused me to
>wake up and realize I will be making a mistake to put up cat5 for the relay
>boxes on the 40 meter beams.  Had not thought about the weather issue
>relating to cable jacket.  So, I am now looking for an alternative cable.
>Any recommendations?  The relays draw only 40 ma or so, and the run will be
>about 200 feet.
>
>For my application cat5 is too small for the rotators.  On the 150 foot
>tower there is a Yaesu 1000DXA at the top and three TIC 1022's below.  I
>have Wireman rotor cable for all.  I wanted the recommended 6-18ga for the
>Yaesu, but that is on back order, so I just bought the next higher cable:
>6-18ga + 2-16ga.  The two 16's and four of the 18's are used for the TIC's.
>The Yaesu uses the six 18's.


I'm not confident about the jacket deterioration issue.  I have only had 
one run of CAT-3 in place, and that for only a year, but the predominant 
damage mechanism so far is small rodents.  I sprinkled the cable with a 
coyote urine critter repellent (not a nice job) and things have been fine 
since.  now this isn't up high in the air, and not in Florida or Arizona, 
but it'll be interesting to see what happens.


73, Pete N4ZR
The World HF Contest Station Database
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