[TowerTalk] Coax Life Expectancy

[Art Greenberg]

Thanks for all of the comments. Suffice it to say I'm surprised at the 
brand most mentioned in your responses ... and I think many of you are 
going to be surprised as well.

To Jim's (W7RY) point ... It does very occasionally get below freezing 
here, a few days a year typically. It has done so a few days this 
winter. I don't recall that happening at all last winter. But the 
failure affected multiple runs of cable and only where it is exposed to 
the sun. For it to be due to water intrusion, I'd have had to botch 
weatherproofing a lot of connectors (I have ground bonding top and 
bottom of the tower using conductive brackets and threaded barrel 
connectors) or I've had to nick the jacket in several runs of cable to 
enable that particular failure. Not impossible, but I don't think it likely.

I was reluctant to name the product, because I'm not here to bash it and 
I don't want my post to be interpreted as such. I do want to know if I 
misapplied the cable, or installed it incorrectly. Seeing all of the 
testimony in favor of the product gives me pause.

"Brand X", the cable that failed is in fact Bury-FLEX. I sent email 
about this to Steve Davis, who does post on this list from time to time. 
Its been about a week, and he has not responded. I bought 525 feet of it 
for this project.

"Brand Y" is Times Microwave LMR-400-DB. I don't have any of that on the 
tower. But where it emerges from the conduit at both ends, it still 
looks new and shiny. The Bury-FLEX in those same locations is dull, 
checked and cracked.

An interesting difference between the two is the waterproofing "jell" in 
the 400-DB. So maybe that supports Jim's suggestion of water in the 
cables freezing. Hmm.

I've replaced almost all of the cable on the tower with DX Engineering 
RG-213 which I had on hand for another project. I didn't have quite 
enough, so one of the four cables in the rotor loop is Belden 9913F I 
"borrowed" from a neighbor ham. I haven't used either of these cables in 
the past, so I'm curious to see how they hold up.

Does the reflector permit attachments? I have photographs.

On 2/14/23 21:49, Jim W7RY wrote:
> MEEE too.
> 
> It's not bashing a product. Its actual fact... If it is as you say. Not 
> much chance of water freezing inside of the jacket at your location?
> 
> 73, Jim W7RY
> 
> 
> On 2/14/2023 7:29 PM, Lee Hiers wrote:
>> I would be interested in what brand x and brand y really are - brand and
>> model.
>>
>> 73!
>>
>> Lee, AA4GA

-- 
Art Greenberg
WA2LLN
art at artg.tv