[TowerTalk] Bury-Flex vs. LMR 400 UF, respon fr DAVIS RF

[Steve Davis -Davis RF Co.]

<I gave up on the Ultra flex (UF) after seen what it looked like after 
just 6 years out in the weather here in Central Michigan.  The jacket on 
every pigtail was split leaving the braid/shield open to the elements.  
OTOH I use and have used a lot of LMR-400 and 600 >.

   Hi John, Times LMR 400 UF uses a TPE (thermoplastic Elastomer)outer jacket vs. the PE (polyeth.) jacket on LMR 400.  The TPE assists in the flexibility; however, as you have noted, the life of TPE outdoors is poor.  Bury-Flex is only slightly less flexible mainly because it uses a PE outer jacket, which is impervious to UV, also has no plasticizers that will migrate into the dielectric causing havoc.  The PE grade that we use in Bury-Flex production is good for  25-30 years of outdoor service.  Lastly, Bury-Flex is noticeably less expensive vs. 400 UF.  
Bottom line, in my opinion, there is no reason to be using 400 UF, except perhaps at freq's higher than 3 GHz.  

Bury-Flex has been an extremely popular item with hams, as well as used by entities such as Lockheed-Northrop, NASA, FAA, SPAWAR, etc.   

 Please check with us for any purchases of LMR, Heliax, and many other cable and wire, RF conn's, etc .  that we offer at very competitive pricing.    Tnx to Roger for his comments and Bury-Flex support.   
   If I can ever be of any help, feel free.     
73,   Steve ,  K1PEK,  

DAVIS RF Co. ,  Div. of Orion Wire Co., Inc.

Wire, Cable, RF Connectors and wire aerial parts.   LMR, Heliax, Eupen

Commercial / Military / & Custom Cable Design 

tel:  978-369-1738     Fax:  978-369-3484
www.DavisRF.com



Message: 4
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:53:20 -0400
From: "Roger (K8RI)" <K8RI-on-TowerTalk at tm.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Bury-Flex
To: k5xa at godfather-ridge.com
Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
Message-ID: <490967F0.7010402 at tm.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

John K5XA wrote:
> Howdy from Kerrville, Texas.
>
> I'm about ready to order coax. I'm putting my station back together, and
> have been using a combination of Andrews Heliax and LMR-400 Ultra-Flex.
>   I gave up on the Ultra flex (UF) after seen what it looked like after 
just 6 years out in the weather here in Central Michigan.  The jacket on 
every pigtail was split leaving the braid/shield open to the elements.  
OTOH I use and have used a lot of LMR-400 and 600.

> I'm happy with the LMR-400, but the 1000 foot spool I've been using was one
> I bought several years ago in a group purchase, for considerably less than
> today's prices. So I'm considering Davis Bury-Flex as an alternative to
> another order of LMR-400.
>   
I typically purchase most coax 1000 ft at a time if starting a project. 
I only purchased 250 ft of Bury-flex to use for pigtails as I don't see 
a big need coming up for a lot of the smaller coax.  LMR-400 is 
available for slightly less than Bury-flex at a few places, but we're 
only talking a couple of cents and I don't remember how many feet you'd 
need for the price, plus it's approaching 4:00 AM so I don't have the 
ambition to look it up either.

Bury-flex has a very tough jacket and is quite flexible although not 
quite as flexible as the LMR-400UF cables.
A couple weeks ago I  cut up and put connectors on 250 feet to make up a 
bunch of cables for "go kits". Now I have the pigtails for my beams and 
feed lines from the remote switches to sloping dipoles.

> Do any of you have any experience with the Bury-Flex - pro or con?
>
>   
I like it...So far no complaints.

73

Roger (K8RI)