[TowerTalk] 1-5/8 inch Andrew Hardline stored outside in New England for ...

Cqtestk4xs at aol.com Cqtestk4xs at aol.com
Fri May 31 07:37:29 EDT 2013


All that is nice, but like all things, that estimate may be flawed.
 
1.  Some guys have a 400 ft plus run to the tower (me)...over 1 db  loss 
plus another 200 feet to the top.  Over .5dB.  That makes over  1.5 dB
2.  Some guys use the run to the tower for 10 meters as well as VHF  with a 
box at the tower.
3.  If you already own the hardline shipping it is not as expensive as  you 
might think, at least compared to going out and buying all new 1/2 and then 
 paying for that shipping too.  I used to have access to loads of 1 5/8 and 
 shipped it all over the US.
4.  Connectors are expensive.  You buy them used, or make your  own for 
less than five bucks.  Many times they are included if you buy the  1 5/8 used. 
 Adapters can be obtained used or new at most hamfests for  around $5.
5.  Most guys get their 1 5/8 used.  I got some for free and  shopped 
around for others.  I once obtained several excellent 2000+ foot  spools of used 
in the early 2000s for 50 cents a foot.
6.  Almost all have jumpers.  The cost of the jumper is  minimal.  Maybe 
$10 for PL259s and a few feet of LMR400.
7.  I once needed four runs of coax for direct burial for my  four 2 
element quads suspended on ropes around the yard.  I had tons of the  1 5/8 laying 
around, so I used that for my 200 foot runs.  It had nothing  to do with 
ego, running high power and certainly was not about being low loss  compared 
to 1/2 inch.  It was what I had and I got most of that for  free.
 
You'll find many guys like me who are contesters, who don't have an endless 
 supply of cash and scrounge up the hardline and connectors for pennies on 
a  dollar.  Not many go out and spend $14/ft for hardline.
 
Bill K4XS
 
 
In a message dated 5/31/2013 5:19:50 A.M. Coordinated Universal Time,  
w3ab at yahoo.com writes:
 
I have  been watching this discussion with a lot of interest. The interest 
being, what  is the power loss at 30 MHz for a 100' run of 1/2" vs 1 5/8" 
hardline? Turns  out it is ~82 W. 


This is for LDFX-50A

1 5/8" loss @ 30  MHz/100' = 0.109 dB

1/2" loss @ 30 MHz/100' = 0.375  dB
http://www.rfparts.com/coax/heliaxcoax.html?cat=469

That will not  break any pile-up on any band. Period!

Everything from hereon in is  based on a 100' run of coax. You can do the 
math for any run shorter or  longer.

Now, what is the cost of shipping 100' of 1 5/8" coax from the  east coast 
to CO? Ain't gonna be cheap. 

How much do the connectors  cost? Ain't gonna be cheap. 

Need any adapters? Not cheap.

How  manageable is the big stiff stuff? It's big, stiff and  heavy. 

What about the 1/2" stuff. Easy. The ultraflex is even  easier to manage.

Gotta put flexible jumpers twixt the run and rotated  antenna as well as in 
the shack in both cases. 

1/2" hardline costs  ~$3.00/ft vs ~$14.00/ft for the 1 5/8" stuff. 

Geez, unless you are  running more than 6 kW @ 30 MHz (1/2" hardline) with 
a 
100% duty cycle, I  can see no reason for the use of 1 5/8" hardline. The 
last time I checked the  legal limit for us, USA hams, was 1.5 kW PEP.

Unless you NEED bragging  rights. Then, by all means go for it.

IMHO, sell the 1 5/8" where it  resides and buy new 1/2" at your new new 
QTH.

BTW, all my shack jumpers  used to be LMR-400 but I got tired of the lack 
of flexibility so I went with  to LMR-250UF.

Of course your mileage may, and will  vary.

---
Ciao baby, catch you on the flip  side.
GEO
http://www.w3ab.org

3  thoughts:

Recall that the gain from a lot of aluminum high in the sky  works both 
ways. QRO works one way only.

If you are unable to hear  them, you will NOT work them. 


I'd rather put 12 dB of gain @ 60'  rather than get 12 dB of gain from the 
220 VAC  outlet.        
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