[TowerTalk] Water in RG6

[Roger D Johnson]

I recommend direct bury rated cable. This has a polyethylene (PE) jacket which 
is more
"waterproof" and "tougher" than PVC.

I don't know if the foam dielectric is open or closed cell foam. With closed 
cell foam
there is no path for the water to get to the center conductor so a simple resistance
check might not indicate a problem.

73, Roger


On 3/12/2016 10:56 AM, Chuck Dietz wrote:
> If you have a digital ohm meter that can measure into the megohm range,
> with bad coax you will see some resistance path between shield and ground.
>
> Chuck W5PR
>
> On Saturday, March 12, 2016, Dennis W0JX via TowerTalk<
> towertalk at contesting.com>  wrote:
>
>> Ed,
>> Moisture is very difficult to keep out of RG6 especially if it is the
>> inexpensive variety with a PVC jacket. This type of jacket is easily cut
>> and has pinholes in it.
>>
>> It is very easy to know if you have had water ingestion. The shield
>> resistance will go up when the aluminum braid oxidizes. You can also
>> inspect it visually by removing a connector and stripping back a length of
>> the cover. The aluminum will turn grey and have a powdery oxidation on it.
>> This is ruined coax and you might as well throw it away.
>>
>> Therefore, when ever possible, use a flooded cable. The next best thing is
>> a tri-shield RG6 which consists of three shields: foil around the foam,
>> followed by aluminum braid, followed by a final shield of foil then covered
>> by the jacket. Sometimes you can find it surplus at hamfests.
>>
>> Commscope makes a Quad Shield, flooded RG6 and you can find large rolls on
>> EBAY. W0BTU has the Commscope part number on his website.
>>
>> I have thrown out hundreds of feet of Home Depot RG6 that has gone bad
>> because of water migration.
>>
>> 73, Dennis W0JX
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TowerTalk mailing list
>> TowerTalk at contesting.com<javascript:;>
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>