[TowerTalk] Marking?Identifying Coax Cables

[Steve Maki]

As you note, there's a big difference between outdoor & indoor conditions.

It's hard to beat clear heatshrink over your label of choice for outdoor 
use  - IF you have the foresight to slide the heatshrink on the cable 
before installing connectors or fanning the conductors out. Note that 
4:1 heatshrink is available, but more expensive than 3:1 or 2:1.

BTW if you're using a lot of heatshrink, I've been happy for years with 
buyheatshrink.com.

So I've been using Brother PTouch *film* labels indoors as I try to get 
my station going again, and outdoors will try the clear Gorilla tape 
over-wrap suggestion, which sounds ideal.

-Steve K8LX



On 10/12/18 21:32 PM, Don wrote:
> Looking for any good methods anyone has used to PERMANENTLY mark/ID coax 
> when you've a lot of cable running.
> 
> Tried colored tape (including the best 3M) but found it fades after a 
> short period (like a year) exposed to my wind. salt water and UV 
> environment. (OK in the closed junction box but not on the long exposed 
> runs to and from)
> 
> I faintly  remember that there was aluminum or soft copper cable 
> surrounds that the military used where one could write into or prestamp 
> the material before attaching, indenting the surface pretty deep. Have 
> not found a source for these.
> 
> But maybe you folks have some other good ideas. My wife suggested the 
> aluminum tags she uses for her roses and other flowers but the little 
> wire that holds the tag to the item must be a size 28 or smaller, I can 
> imagine how long a fluttering tag like that would last, a few days and 
> it would rust out or be torn off.