[TowerTalk] Introduction

[Grant Saviers]

There will still be demand for larger hardlines but probably not the 
economy of production there has been as cell upgrades/rollouts all move 
to fiber up the tower.

Also, fiber to the house (or at least street corner) will curtail the 
hardline 70 ohm cable distribution coax use & production.

re surplus, I have been looking but seen no deals for 7/8, I did get new 
LDF4 spools from a local contract installer/climber who withdrew from 
the business.  So it might be worth looking in that direction as the 
little guys get out.  AFAIK there is no LDF5 in spool lengths anywhere.  
I've seen Eupen 7/8 at $3.00 per foot, has anybody tried it?  Do non 
Eupen connectors work? Specs = LDF5/AVA5.

One pricing anomaly I see is that the LDF6 and LDF7 series are priced in 
bulk only slightly more than LDF5 (same or replacement AVA), eg $3.00/ft 
for 5, $3.25 for 6, $3.75 for 7.  So if you can find cheap 6/7 
connectors and have Sumo wrestlers available to help install it...

I expect hardline removal from existing towers will be done with a chain 
saw, short lengths to truck to recycle yards.  Just like used telephone 
poles are now "recycled".

Grant KZ1W


On 2/4/2017 15:54 PM, Clay Autery wrote:
> So are y'all saying that large diameter coax is just going to disappear
> from existence, or just the cheap ends.
>
> ______________________
> Clay Autery, KY5G
> MONTAC Enterprises
> (318) 518-1389
>
> On 2/4/2017 5:36 PM, Jim Thomson wrote:
>> As KK9A mentioned, the surplus market for 7/8" and larger coax will be
>> gradually drying up in the future. Virtually all new cell site builds
>> are utilizing tower top radios connected via fiber. 1/2" is still used
>> and will continue to be used for jumpers between the radios and
>> antennas, although we also are currently using "Air" antennas which have
>> the radios built in.
>>
>> Since the cell market has been the major source of well priced surplus
>> Heliax style cable...get it while you can.
>>
>> -Steve K8LX
>>
>> ##  agreed, heliax .875 inch and larger, has gone the way of the do-do bird.
>> I retired from the local telco back in nov 2009, and several months b4 that,
>> I was at a cell site one day, and saw em installing fiber optic cables to the top
>> of the freestanding 90 ft tall concrete tower.   Tower originally had 4-5 huge
>> microwave dishes on it for a heavy route system.
>>
>> ##  I think G3 cell service was just being rolled out  prior to my retirement.
>> Several other cell carriers had ants on our tower, and one of em went the
>> fiber optic route 1st.   Everybody else followed.   No coax used at all on any cell tower
>> these days.    Now whether the old heliax was  removed is another matter.  A lot of times
>> its just left in place.  No budget for removal and shipping and disposal.  No time  either.
>>
>> ##  It might get eventually removed..at great expense.   We went through semi trailer loads of
>> the larger heliax.  Cell sites being slammed in every week at one point.
>>
>> ##  If u see it surplus, buy it if its in good shape.   But dont expect continuous runs of much more
>> than 150 ft.      Earlier days they used N connectors, then later to 7-16 DIN.  If u see the surplus
>> 7-16 dins, snag them too.  1.125 inch heliax was used quire a bit as well, depending on freq used,
>> and length involved.
>>
>> Jim   VE7RF
>>
>> fo/towertalk
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