[TowerTalk] A dumb question

[Larry Stowell]

Pete

I don't know what your landscape looks like. I started out with conduit

and saw that the cables sat in water all the time. My tower is about 
25ft off of the

back of the garage a total of about 100ft from the entrance to the house

I install 10ft landscape timbers(6x6) vertical every 12ft and made a 
channel of

1x6 ceder and put the cables in this. I made some cross pieces so it 
look like a pagoda.

looks good as I followed the "flower garden.

Larry K1ZW


On 8/29/2017 10:33 AM, Bob Shohet, KQ2M wrote:

> Hi Pete,
>
> It depends on many things depending on your situation:
>
> 1) What are you attempting to protect your cable from?  Lawn mowers?  Lightning?  Someone digging into them?  etc.
>
> 2) Type of cable and type of jacket  (and how hot/cold/snowy/icy does it get at your qth?)
>
> I use buryflex coax and CQ304 and CQ302 rotator cable.  I have had them laying on the ground for almost 20 years with no discernable physical deterioration.  If I put them below ground I would have to deal with the acidic soil, critters, pools of groundwater, etc.  Of course these issues would be mitigated by using gravel, sand, conduit, etc.  I like keeping it simple.  I have fewer critter problems and no water/soil issues with laying the cables on the ground.  Nothing likes to nest directly on top of the cables where they are exposed to the elements.  Put them in a protected environment below soil however and then I am sure the critters would be more interested.
>
> But for anything aboveground, the cable jackets better be physically tough and uv resistant or else they won’t last more than a few years at best.
>
> 3) Convenience and aesthetics...
>
> It is a real PITA to have to move cables around every time that I mow, and even more of a PITA when I hit one of them with a mower.  BUT, where I have dug a 4” trench only a few inches wide and laid the cables in the uncovered trench, I don’t have to move them anymore, I don’t have to worry about the mower blades cutting them or hitting the sides of the narrow trench, and, if I need to move or replace them, I just pick them up and they are moved in a few seconds.
>
> I have had no trouble with the elements or even snow/ice or standing water which is rapidly absorbed by the ground.
>
> This also solves the issues of trenching and how deep is deep enough?
>
> Decide on your answers to 1, 2 and 3 and then you may not even need to think about your questions.  If you still want to bury your cables, then 1, 2 and 3 will determine the answer to your questions.
>
> 73 & GL!
>
> Bob  KQ2M
>
> From: N4ZR
> Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2017 9:28 PM
> To: TowerTalk
> Subject: [TowerTalk] A dumb question
>
> After all this time I'm contemplating my first direct buried run of
> coax.  Hence this qwuestion - how deep is deep enough?  DoI need to get
> below the frost line?
>

-- 
73 Larry K1ZW