[TowerTalk] Used heliax buying

[Jim Thomson]

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Jim W7RY" <w7ry at inbox.com>
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 10:20 PM
To: "Jim Thomson" <jim.thom at telus.net>; <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Used heliax buying

> How about $3.57 per foot for 7/8" RFS Jim?
>
>
> http://www.davisrf.com/heliax.php
>
> Or do you get special pricing and offer that to all of us?
>
> 73
> Jim W7RY

###  a year ago, it was  $4.70 list... and  $2.35  on sale...buying at least 
a 100' of it.  Dunno how much
cu has risen in the last year.

## Beware, there is at least 10 x versions of the same 7/8" coax.... the 
more expensive stuff is
phase compensated.   LMR  mentions that also, in their catalogs.   IE: 
terminate it with a 50 ohm plug,
and swr show's  spikes every 20 mhz, from 850 mhz and up.   You have to 
specify the freq you are gonna be using.
Andrew is the same.   The phase comp stuff is freq  dependent, hence the 
several different freq ranges.
The un phase compensated stuff is the cheapest of course.

##  $3.57 per foot is still less than andrew's  $5.60 per foot.    The 
corrugated AL  outer / corrugated CU inner  version
of the same 7/8" coax is a lot less $$ than the all CU variety.   The AL 
outer  stuff has specs that are 99%  as good as the
cu variety.   It's not only cheaper still, it's a heck of a lot lighter than 
CU variety.   And both the cu /AL  variety from rfs
have the same corrugated  inner conductor.... which is one  heck of a lot 
more flexible  vs andrew 's  hollow  cu inner tube.

##  If u have ever worked with both rfs/andrew brands... you  will feel the 
difference right away...way easier/faster install when it's
more flexible to start with.  Min turn radius is reduced by a magnitude. 
The AL  stuff is  1/3  the weight of  lmr-1200.   It's
 a big seller world wide.   Trying to  work with andrew  7/8 and  1.25  is 
like  trying to bend a baseball bat.

## beware, there is a lot of junk used heliax on the market..and a lot of it 
was tossed by cell co's when it got bent during an install.
That won't affect hf-6m  but it's  defective >  900 mhz.    A buddy at work 
was on loan to the ant crew for 2 x months  and ruined
a bunch of it by accident.   And they won't chop out the bad section and 
splice either, takes too much time.
It goes in the metal scrap bin.

## on the latest g3/4  conversions,  heliax isn't even used.  Fiber optic 
cables are run up the side of the towers.

Jim


>
>
> -> ###  Steve Davis, at Davis RF...sells RFS  brand 7/8"  heliax  for
>> $2.35 per foot..... NEW.    List price is $4.70    > 
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