I never wanted the idiots to the south of me to interfere with me while I was talking to my friends to the north of me.
It's a double edged sword/glass half empty or half full kind of thing.
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Best Coax for Base Antenna
- Thread starter Brain the Dog
- Start date
I never wanted the idiots to the south of me to interfere with me while I was talking to my friends to the north of me.
It's a double edged sword/glass half empty or half full kind of thing.
Wow, great info. ThankyouWhats this? No one bothered to mention ladder line? Less loss than all of the above...
Lets throw up some numbers based on this site and assuming a so called "perfect" SWR match and 27 foot run...
Belden 8240, RG-58, 11.076% loss.
Belden 9258, RG-8X, 9.232% loss.
Times Microwave, LMR-240, 7.615% loss.
Belden 8267, RG-213, 6.313% loss.
Belden 9913, RG-8, 3.938% loss.
Times Microwave, LMR-400, 3.869% loss.
And for fun, a few other options that were mentioned as well as some others.
Times Microwave, LMR-600, 2.464% loss.
Andrews Heliax, LDF4-50A, 2.095% loss.
Andrews Heliax, LDF5-50A, 1.147% loss.
Generic 450 Ohm Window Line, 0.916% loss.
Andrews Heliax, LDF6-50A, 0.797% loss.
Generic 600 Ohm Ladder Line, 0.63% loss.
This should help make your decision.
Edit, addition.
Same data for 125 foot run? OK...
Belden 8240, RG-58, 41.872% loss.
Belden 9258, RG-8X, 36.139% loss.
Times Microwave, LMR-240, 30.698% loss.
Belden 8267, RG-213, 26.059% loss.
Belden 9913, RG-8, 16.971% loss.
Times Microwave, LMR-400, 16.697% loss.
And the others.
Times Microwave, LMR-600, 10.91% loss.
Andrews Heliax, LDF4-50A, 9.335% loss.
Andrews Heliax, LDF5-50A, 5.202% loss.
Generic 450 Ohm Window Line, 4.169% loss.
Andrews Heliax, LDF6-50A, 3.638% loss.
Generic 600 Ohm Ladder Line, 2.882% loss.
The DB
I never wanted the idiots to the south of me to interfere with me while I was talking to my friends to the north of me.
Yes it is. A couple of local guys with beams are a pain in the ass. They talk to the same people the guys with ground planes do but are always needing someone to relay for them, are keying on people they can't hear, ect...
At least the guys south of you speak English.
The only people that I key up on that are in front of me hear little of me; the guys behind me have no trouble with me - at all - because they can't hear a thing from me. The guys in front are on verticals, and I am on horizontal w/o an amp. Not stepping on anybody and still making a long distance trip with far less than a hundred watts. Very pleased with this arrangement.
The "Best" coax for your requirements is RG-213.
It will have about 1/20th of a watt more loss at 27' than any high end coax such as LMR-400 but since that is what I would call the same thing as nothing, it's easier to work with, less expensive & is extremely high quality in terms of construction & user friendliness.
It will have about 1/20th of a watt more loss at 27' than any high end coax such as LMR-400 but since that is what I would call the same thing as nothing, it's easier to work with, less expensive & is extremely high quality in terms of construction & user friendliness.
Ok OK, geesh
Save the difference for additional antenna options or other gear that will improve the overall experience.
Beams have their place, and they don't have to be some massive quadagi. A simple moxon can mean the difference between making a contact over a vertical to the same location, so I guess having both options would be OK.
Perhaps a little but he was very emphatic about wanting the best.
For use in Florida, Philadelphia, Fergusun, or California the fire retardant coax would be the best choice.
Ha! Yeah I see what you mean. When I posted that I just picked two directions at random and was thinking about locals where everyone in all directions speaks English anyway.
What do y'all think of the coax made by DXEngineering? For example, their 400MAX, which they say is the equivalent of LMR400.
LMR400 is typically a solid core wire. It doesn't like to bend and repeated flexing will damage/break the internal conductor.
Loss per 100 feet at 30 mhz - 0.7 dB
RG-213 typically has a stranded internal core. It is much easier to bend /route to the radio and less prone to damage due to flexing.
Loss per 100 feet at 30 mhz - 1dB
DX Engineering makes a flexible version they say is comparable to LMR400 called 400MAX.
Loss per 100 feet at 30 mhz - 0.8 dB
At 27 feet, loss is ~ .189 / .27 / .216 respectively. As stated the difference is basically nil.
ETA - Quality RG8X is less than half the cost, 1.4dB loss at 100 feet, .378dB loss at 27 feet.
And LMR has the foil shielding glued on and difficult to remove without damaging the center dialectric conductor.
It's debatable if this foil should be removed before soldering a connector. I do because I don't want to risk a short if the foil nicks the center pin.
RG-213 is best for the longer wavelength HF frequencies with it's stranded copper core and copper braided shielding while LMR was really intended for VHF and above.
It's debatable if this foil should be removed before soldering a connector. I do because I don't want to risk a short if the foil nicks the center pin.
RG-213 is best for the longer wavelength HF frequencies with it's stranded copper core and copper braided shielding while LMR was really intended for VHF and above.
I have bought some rg11 from dx engineering. It seems like good stuff. I wouldn't be afraid to buy their other flavors of coax.
I have been buying 90% of my coax from JEFA Tech for the last several years. I've used a lot of their 213 for mobiles and lmr400 equivalent for base antennas. I recently bought a run of their lmr600. No issues with any of it and they have good prices.
If you will be disconnecting it a lot the solid center conductor may not last long depending on how much you move it. Keep in mind lmr400 ultra flex costs more and has a bit more loss.
If you use lmr400 I would use a short jumper in the shack made of 213 so you can disconnect without bending the solid core cowaxe.
You can use this to weigh out performance vs cost.
http://www.qsl.net/co8tw/Coax_Calculator.htm
Let's say you have a 1.2 swr on ch 20 at the antenna and your radio does 4 watts. With 125 feet of 213 you will deliver 2.946 watts to the antenna. With lmr400 it would be 3.23 watts. Lmr900 would be 3.691 watts.
There's nothing to be gained with expensive coax at 27mhz you just need to be sure it will handle the power you plan to put through it.
I used it to feed one of those zs6bkw contraptions. It was low loss and cheap so I gave it a shot.