Re: Coax Connectors and cables

Jim Nolan (panache426@hotmail.com)
Fri, 10 Dec 1999 14:05:00 MST


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Bill:
The cable dielectric (insulation between the inner and outer conductors)
alters the wavelength in the cable by the reciprocal of the square root of
its dielectric constant. The formula you gave is for half wavelength for a
dipole antenna which is about 10% shorter than the free space wavelength.
The formula I use for free space is 11.8/f where f is in GHz and the
wavelength is in inches. For foam core coax the alteration is neglible.
However foam can hold water (not good). For most plastic dielectrics (which
don't absorb water)the dielectric constant is about 2.5 so the wavelength is
shortened by a factor of 0.6. All keeping the coax a constant multiple of
wavelengths does is make the radio see the exact input impedance of the
antenna. If the antenna and radio are properly designed the coax length
should be a very small factor in performance. Your best bet is to have the
proper antenna and radio impedances and not worry about cable length.

Jim Nolan P-19 #426 Panache

>From: Bill Blohm <bblohm@hpbs1686.boi.hp.com>
>To: wwpotter@tscnet.com
>Subject: Re: Coax Connectors and cables
>Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 13:05:48 -0700
>
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> West Wight Potter Website at URL
> http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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>Good going. Something else that could help, at least when I first
>started messing with antennae this is what I was told, is to use
>a length of cable that's a multiple of the desired main operating
>frequency. That is, take the wavelength of the desired frequency
>and make the cable length some multiple of that. Let's say your
>frequency is 144.39 MHz. Your wavelength is 6.48'. Say your length
>from antenna connector to radio connector is 33 feet. Since 5
>wavelengths is only 32.4', you either re-route to use 32.4' or go
>with 6 wavelengths, or 38.88' of cable and lay the cable to neatly
>hide the rest of the cable. You can, of course, cut the cable to
>run 33', but there will be some slight mismatch.
>
>The way I learned it was .5L = 468/f
>
>where L is wavelength and f is the frequency in megahertz. Note
>that this provides you with half the wavelength, not the full
>wavelength.
>
>Bill B.
>P-19 #454, Dream Catcher
>Nampa, ID
>
>P.S. 144.39, for those of you that might be curious, is the
>national APRS frequency.
>
>Jim Nolan wrote:
> >
> > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> > West Wight Potter Website at URL
> > http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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> >
> > >From: Rye Gewalt <ryeg@vais.net>
> > >To: charles@falk.net, Potter List <wwpotter@tscnet.com>
> > >Subject: Re: Coax Connectors
> > >Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 05:33:57 -0500
> > >
> > >Charles Falk wrote:
> > >
> > > > Would a couple of BNC or TNC connectors on RG58 pigtails be better
>than
> > > > a PL259 on the cable from the mast connecting to an SO239 bulkhead
> > > > connector on the cabin roof?
> >
> > The UHF connectors can handle alot more power than either BNC or TNC.
> > UHF~2kW, BNC~10W TNC~25W. Also the UHF is less bothered by corrosion
>because
> > of its large area. A UHF connector that can feed through the cabin roof
>is
> > available from Pasternack Enterprises 949-261-1920, Irvine, CA. It is
>part
> > #PE9114 UHF female to UHF female bulkhead mount. It costs $8.95 in
>single
> > piece quantities. I would cover the outer portion with a rubber cap when
>it
> > is not in use.
> >
> > Do not splice coax cable. You can get away with splices in short runs
>(less
> > than 12" at 150 MHz) but on the boat the cable is 20-50 ft long. Any
>splice
> > or impedance bump will seriously limit the match between the antenna and
> > radio and could in some cases burn out the radios final amplifier. Use
> > connectors to join cables.
> >
> > Also a better cable than RG58 and still the same size is RG142. It has
>half
> > the loss but costs about 4 times as much. RG58 will have about 3 db loss
>per
> > 100' at 150 MHz and RG142 will have about 1 dB. In a typical boat
> > installation you will get about 60% more power to the antenna using
>RG142
> > over RG58. RG58 is .40/ft in 100' qty, RG142 is $1.63/ft in 100' qty.
> >
> > Over and out,
> >
> > Jim Nolan P-19 #426 Panache
>
> > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>

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