[VHFcontesting] strain relief loop for your vhf/uhf beams?

[Bob Cumming]

I have found that the best thing is to use Large, 
Black  (1/4"-1/2"wide) cable ties made by a good manufacturer 
(Panduit, T Betts Etc) to work well here in the Central Florida 
Sun.  In hard to reach places I cover the tie wrap with Scotch 33 or 
equivalent.

The key is not to pull them so tight as to crush the cable - I user 
mostly Andrews Hardline for everything 2M and up and have never had a 
SWR problem in the cables up to 3GHZ.

VRY 73
Bob Cumming
W2BZY
QRV 160M - 9CM + 3CM (5760 next)
from EL98hr

  At 03:02 PM 3/22/2009, Sebastian wrote:
>I must disagree with you on using electrical tape to hold up coax on a
>beam or tower.
>
>Here in South Florida, electrical tape can't stand up to the heat and
>rain, and it will eventually fall off.  Same for tie wraps.
>
>I've found that using shielded electrical wire to be the best way of
>fastening coax to the mast or boom, etc.  It won't fall off!
>
>On Mar 21, 2009, at 7:45 PM, kb7dqh at donobi.net wrote:
> >
> > properly fixed to the antenna boom.  Oddly enough good old fashioned
> > vinyl electrical tape is the best material to use for this purpose.
> > Properly wrapped and layered, it will hold the coax to the boom with
> > strength equal to the cable and may last longer than the cable or the
> > antenna for that matter!  Plastic zipties tend to kink or dent the
> > cable
> > if drawn up too tightly, and most are sensitive to ultraviolet rays
> > from
> > the Sun, (even some of the "black" ones) and they will break over time
> > unless protected from sunlight (with the same black electrical tape
> > that
> > would hold the cable just fine on its own:-)
> >
> > My rover installations have experienced more problems with trees
> > damaging
> > antenna elements and the occasional loosening of antenna hardware,
> > or in
> > some cases the outright failure of antenna support hardware...
> >
> > In the one case where the rotator came apart and all the rover
> > antennae
> > went over the back of the vehicle at 60 MPH, the cables taped to the
> > booms
> > kept the whole mess more or less together!
> >
> > Eric
> > KB7DQH
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