[TowerTalk] Tower Cables

[Fred Mott]

  1.. I have Andrews 7/8 Helix from the shack to the tower top.  What coax (with type N connectors) would you recommend to go up the mast to the antenna?
 

  2.. I can install my rotor and SteppIR control cable up the inside of the tower either with 1 inch plastic conduit, which would be ½ inch from the tower legs so the plastic conduit will be free to move up and down with temperature and weather change.   Or I could secure it directly inside the tower secured by SS hose clamps over rubber tape and or Scotch 88 tape.   I read some time ago that running the cables inside the tower framework next to one of the legs would add act as a faraday shield which would help protect the lines from EMP (nearby lightning).  The problem with it secured directly to the tower leg would cause the SteppIR control cable to turn color and maybe have a premature life.  The plastic conduit is the type that is UV protected.  I would only have to have a small nylon rope taped to it every so often to prevent the cable from stretching from its own weight.  The nylon rope would be secured in a conduit box at the top of the tower.  I prefer the conduit but what if lightning does hit, will the cables have the same protection inside the conduit verses secured directly to the tower leg inside the tower.  What do you think or prefer assuming that the extra work and cost were not a variable? 
 

Thank you, Fred Mott, AB8AH