[TowerTalk] burying hardline

[Steve Maki]

On 4/3/2011 3:08 AM, K8RI on TT wrote:

> I've found LDF4-50 (1/2" Heliax) to be a bit on the fragile side and
> easily crushed. Were it me, and it's not, I'd put all feedlines in PVC
> conduit.  The reason is that yards can at times get soft and if your
> tires sink in as you cross the feedlines it can be a mess. To me the PVC
> is cheap insurance.  I'd run the control lines either under the conduit,
> or in their own conduit.  OTOH although it's not good practice I do have
> some control lines in the same conduit with the feed lines.  I use lower
> loss LMR-600 which has a smaller minimum bend radius and is much more
> crush/kink resistant than LDF4-50

My experience runs counter to yours Roger.

LDF Heliax is VERY crush resistant. Yes you can kink it, but on two 
occasions I've seen LDF cable that was laid out on a parking lot get run 
over by crazed teens in pickups with nary a scratch.

So if the stuff is in a trench a couple feet down protected from sharp 
objects it should be fine.

BTW, LDF4 has lower loss (by a bit) than LMR600 at all frequencies from 
the charts I've seen.

-Steve K8LX