[TowerTalk] RG218

[donovanf at starpower.net]

Hi Jim,

RG-218/U is probably best known by its original designator: RG-17/U

When I first built my station I used thousands of feet of RG-17 and RG-218, I have only 500 feet in use now.  I've been trying to give my used RG-218/U and RG-17/U away, so far there have been only tire-kickers and no takers!

A variety of connectors are available for RG-218, all of them are expensive.  Most of mine are type HN connectors, I still use silver plated HN connectors extensively in my station.   I also have a large quantity of high power LC connectors for RG-218, but these are  expensive to adapt to!

W3GRF gave me my first RG-218 back in the early 1970s.  He always soldered and waterproofed pigtails of RG-213 directly onto the RG-218 with no connectors.  I think its a good idea given the high cost of connectors.  As Lenny often said, "the DX will never know the difference."

RG-218 uses solid dielectric, so its much heavier per foot than modern foam dielectic cable.  

There is a common problem with RG-218 or RG-17 if you hang it vertically on a tower: the dielectric and center conductor tend to slowly creep inside the shield!  This makes connectors unreliable...

73
Frank
W3LPL

---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:53:56 -0700
>From: "Jim Brown" <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>  
>Subject: [TowerTalk] RG218  
>To: "Tower Talk List" <towertalk at contesting.com>
>
>I have the opportunity to buy some RG218 made by Times. Can anyone 
>tell me about this cable? I know it's 50 ohms, 7/8-inch, PVC-II 
>jacket, and 0.9dB/100 ft at 100 MHz. 
>
>Is anyone using this stuff?  What do you do for connectors?
>
>73,
>
>Jim K9YC
>
>
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