[TowerTalk] Repairing/replacing a damaged feedline

[Bob Shohet, KQ2M]

Hi,

Today I noticed that my 160 feedline which is a ~ 325’ feet long run of Buryflex, had lots of critter teeth marks in two main areas.  Clearly the coax in these areas is damaged beyond repair.

Starting at the feedpoint of the 160 Inverted L, the first 25’ runs downhill and is pristine with no critter teeth holes.  Then they start to appear and run off and on for the next 100’ or so.  The is enormous damage at the 100’ mark – about 75’ from where they start appearing, and from start to finish, the length of critter damaged cable is ~ 100’.  This entire area is on flat ground.

My understanding is that foam tends to wick up moisture but for how far on flat ground?  Can it wick 25’?  50’? 100’? The entire length of the buryflex?  I don’t want to wind up using and damaged or deteriorated cable but I don’t want to needlessly waste 150’ – 200’ of potentially good coax

The coax run is ~ 6 years old so aside from the critter damage and any possibly wicked up moisture, the rest of the cable still has many potential years of life left.

So my question is – should I just replace the entire 325’ Buryflex feedline?  Or does it make sense to replace the the 100’ damaged area plus an additional “safety” area of ~ 50’ for a total of 150’?

Tnx & 73

Bob KQ2M