[TowerTalk] Crappy LMR600

Jim Thomson jim.thom at telus.net
Thu Aug 24 13:09:38 EDT 2017


Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2017 15:41:10 -0500
From: Clay Autery <cautery at montac.com>
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Crappy LMR600

<Curious as to why y'all don't use the LMR-400-DB or LMR-xxx-DB cable
<INTENDED for exterior use?

##  useless for rotor loops, since both use a solid center conductor, esp with 600-UF. 

I have aprx 90-100 ft of  T-com LMR-600UF.... which has 27 strands in the
middle instead of the usual 7 strands in the normal 600-UF  version.   Far more flexible,
like spagetti  compared to 213-U.  I was going to use it for going up the side of the crank up 
tower... but knew of the problems using it outdoors.
The jacket on the UF is like pure soft rubber.   Prone to nicks + UV + critters.   I thought
of using split loom, but only find it locally in 10 ft lengths.  Trying to get 90-100 ft of 600-UF
inside a 100 ft continuous length of split loom would not be fun either. 
Plan B was to wrap the entire 90-100 ft with scotch 33 or 88 tape.  I believe that would 
solve 99% of the issues with outdoor use.   That should be good enough for going up the side
of a crank up, and or used for rotor loops.   But typ rotor loops are short anyway, so plane
213-U..or buryflex would be a more practical option. 

## I have a 125 ft  reel of regular  LMR-1200DB  to go from basement to base of tower, but that
stuff is an absolute  bitch to work with.  About as rigid as an aluminum baseball bat, and large OD too,
like 1.2 inchs.  .5 inch heliax or LMR-600DB  would be easier to work with..and I may well go that route.
I may well install it inside grey pvc pipe, since I can get that locally at any home dept, in every ID  from
.5 inch up to 2 inch.   Each 10 ft section is flared at one end, so they can easily be glued together. Then just
lay it next to the house..which is all bark mulch, like  6 ft out from house..and aprx 40 ft long.   Maybe another
20 ft to get to base of tower. 

##  BTW,  Times Microwave tells me that they also make  all of the various LMR 400-500-600-900-1200
cables in a NON DB version.   Same outer jacket, just NO grease in the braid.  Price is the same.  Funny
thing is, I have never seen the non DB version listed on any site ever. 

Jim   VE7RF 



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