[TowerTalk] LMR-600UF and variants

[Jim Thomson]

The  outer jacket on  LMR-600UF..and also LMR-400UF is  rubber.  The rubber is very  soft...and prone to knicks  etc,  and is not abrasive proof.
It also is not  UV proof outdoors.   It would not be a good candidate for a crank up tower  imo. 

Someone mentioned the  600-UF  and  400-UF versions  made by  ABR  industries..and sold by HRO and others.
Their  UF version uses a non contaminating PVC outer jacket, similar to  RG-213.  Flexible,  UV proof, and abrasive proof.  Problem is,
a 100  ft length is listed on their site at a whopping  $640.95  for  100 feet...or  $6.41  per foot.

I checked out  Shireen  coax.... and their  version  of  600UF and  also  400UF  uses a.... Thermoplastic Elastomer  for the outer jacket.
http://www.shireeninc.com/wp-content/uploads/PDF-files/PDF-%20CABLE%20Spec%20Sheets/Coaxial%20Cables/Specs-RFC600-UF.pdf

Shireens   price for their   RFC-600UF  is just  $2.20  per foot. https://www.shireeninc.com/osc/cables/coax-cable/rfc600uf   Thats  one third the price of the  ABR version.

Shireens  thermoplastic  elastomer  is also known as  TPE.... are a class of copolymers or a physical mix of polymers (usually a plastic and a rubber) that consist of materials with both thermoplastic and elastomeric properties.
This TPE  stuff is  supposed to be far more abrasive resistant  vs non contaminating  PVC..and better for temp extremes, and also  V breakdown..and its  also  UV  proof, and then some.

I contacted  Shireen, and they assured  me it was robust, and  superb for UV,  in direct sunlight, outdoors. 

They offered to send me a free sample to evaluate, so I took them up on their kind offer. 

Dunno why  Times Microwave  didn’t figure out the  rubber jacket  problem on their  UF cables...like  25 years ago. 

The Shireen UF  version may well be the real answer  for a lot of folks like myself.  Their RFC-600UF  is flexible..and low loss, handles power, which the  VHF and UHF  folks  will  appreciate,
and handles  UV.   For general use, the ultra flex  would be easier to route  through conduits, bends etc. 

This might all be old news,  but its new for me. 

Jim  VE7RF