[50mhz] [VHF] Replacing coax

[Carl]

One way to test is record a VSWR curve when installed and check it yearly. 
If the 2:1 bandwidth increases the loss is increasing also.

Carl
KM1H


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Geiger" <aa5jg at fidmail.com>
To: "50mhz" <50mhz at mailman.qth.net>; <6meter at yahoogroups.com>; "'VHF 
REFLECTOR'" <vhf at w6yx.stanford.edu>; <DX-IS at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 11:39 AM
Subject: [VHF] Replacing coax


>I went out this morning and did a visual inspection on my coax runs, and 
>they
> all look in very good condition. No cracking on the jacket at all, and the
> jacket still looks as good as when new.  One run of RG-11 I have is 12 
> years
> old, but still looks great.  I don't recognize any signal degradation on 
> the
> coax runs either, nor changes in SWR.  Now I don't have any complex test
> equipment to test the coax runs with, just a SWR/power meter built into my
> antenna tuner.
>
> Given that the jacket on the coax looks ok, and I haven't noticed any 
> change
> in antenna performance, is it safe to assume that the coax is still good, 
> or
> is there an age limit for coax after which it starts to deteriorate from 
> the
> inside?  Is there a rule of thumb on how often coax should be replaced?
>
> 73s John AA5JG
> ------
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