[600MRG] Coax shielding effectiveness

Gedas w8bya at mchsi.com
Thu Dec 12 10:35:57 EST 2019


Flexibility was not the only reason I liked the RG-214 over the FSJ1-50. 
At low frequencies (below several MHz) it has a higher SE and when used 
with quality N-connectors (like an Amphenol crimp style properly 
installed) will provide less leakage and a better termination at the 
ends of the cable. In my prior life doing tempest work ultra-high 
isolation, SE, and the ability to spot "snakes in the grass" was the 
name of the game. At higher frequencies there are better choices but I 
assumed you were interested in VLF since you posted here.

Gedas, W8BYA

Gallery at http://w8bya.com
Light travels faster than sound....
This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

On 12/12/2019 9:03 AM, david vanhorn wrote:
> I'm not too worried about flexibility, I can sculpt the cables to fit 
> and then they won't need to be moved again.
> RG-214 might be my backup plan, if I can't locate this "supershield" 
> cable.
> I'm just trying to remove unnecessary variables in my measurements.
>
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2019 at 8:16 AM Gedas <w8bya at mchsi.com 
> <mailto:w8bya at mchsi.com>> wrote:
>
>     For frequencies like 630m etc RG-214 is an excellent choice (it
>     would be my #1 choice). It is WAY more flexible and if it is
>     MIL-Spec (M17) cable then it uses silver coated copper conductors
>     for the dual braids and the center conductor.
>
>     What kind of length(s) and number of cable(s) are you looking for?
>     Brand new RG-214 that is MIL-Spec can get pricey. I happen to have
>     plenty for myself and probably enough to share with others. Let me
>     know what your needs are.
>
>     Gedas, W8BYA
>
>     Gallery athttp://w8bya.com
>     Light travels faster than sound....
>     This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
>
>     On 12/11/2019 9:11 AM, david vanhorn wrote:
>>     I did get some FSJ1-50 jumpers from Andrew, F1B-PNMBM-1M, and
>>     they are way better than the Pasternak "100% shield" cables, but
>>     they still leak at the ends.
>>     In the middle, essentially no leak.  So I suspect the ends aren't
>>     being done completely correctly.  I haven't carved into one yet
>>     to find out.
>>
>>     That makes me think about making my own cables, which makes me
>>     think in the direction of "Superscreen" or "Double Superscreen"
>>     cables.
>>     Unfortunately I have not been able to look up any source for
>>     those cables, much less the connectors.
>>
>>     Heavy sigh..  Designing sensitive receivers isn't that big a
>>     problem, but it seems all the ancillary bits are determined to
>>     drive me nuts.
>>
>>
>>     On Mon, Dec 9, 2019 at 5:34 PM Gedas <w8bya at mchsi.com
>>     <mailto:w8bya at mchsi.com>> wrote:
>>
>>         Labas Ed !
>>
>>         Wow those are some awesome relays to have that kind of
>>         isolation, esp at 1296. I am WAY behind on my antenna work
>>         here as well. Just today I had to lower the tower AGAIN after
>>         I found yet more lightning damage from last year. Once done I
>>         may be able to put up the next experimental 630m antenna I am
>>         pondering. I am needing a VLF QSO fix.
>>
>>         Speaking of which, Ed made a special stop near my QTH last
>>         year so we could have a very memorable eye-ball QSO. I will
>>         have to find that picture and post it to the group. Merry
>>         X-Mas if we do not chat before that time Ed. 73
>>
>>         Gedas, W8BYA
>>
>>         Gallery athttp://w8bya.com
>>         Light travels faster than sound....
>>         This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
>>
>>         On 12/9/2019 6:35 PM, Edward R Cole wrote:
>>>         Pretty much how I measure RF isolation.  In commercial
>>>         communications: typically important to avoid desense in
>>>         duplex operations.  Use of dual-shielded coax to obtain 90-dB.
>>>
>>>         In ham radio its mostly port isolation in TR relays.  I did
>>>         essentially the same process as Gedas.  My eme preamps are
>>>         the most sensitive so look at the leakage level with 10-100w
>>>         in the Tx port.  I could not see any signal at 100-dB on
>>>         1296 with my Narda relays (cited at 80-dB).  Since my max
>>>         transmission power is 600w (+58 dBm) that keeps leakage into
>>>         my preamps way below 0 dBm.
>>>
>>>         I run Heliax transmission line and see no leakage signal
>>>         into the Preamp on 144-MHz.  Space loss from antenna to
>>>         receiver is less so it sees the transmitted signal if
>>>         radiated.  So definitely need terminations in these tests.
>>>
>>>         Thanks for the info, Gedas.
>>>
>>>         My 630m inverted-L will not be in-service until next spring
>>>         as I did not get my radial system planted this year (new
>>>         lawn).  Also base loading coil is to be installed inside new
>>>         fiberglass wx-proof cabinet which will also house my
>>>         2m-1500w PA & 50v PS.
>>>
>>>         Winter arrived!
>>>
>>>         73, Ed - KL7UW
>>>
>>>         At 10:14 AM 12/9/2019, you wrote:
>>>>         Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>>>>          boundary="------------78ED9BB5007D8DB12F1545D4"
>>>>         Content-Language: en-US
>>>>
>>>>         Hi Dave. Funny you should ask. I am right in the middle of
>>>>         making a video where I test about 10 different (and common)
>>>>         coaxial cables specifically for their SE. The project is on
>>>>         and off as I just have too many pokers in the fire right now.
>>>>
>>>>         It is not as simple as one may think to measure the SE
>>>>         accurately esp if the cable is of high quality and has a
>>>>         high SE. If I were still employed and had access to my old
>>>>         lab and shielded enclosures and able to generate & measure
>>>>         known RF fields from DC to daylight it would be a much,
>>>>         much easier task. Having to do it in my basement lab makes
>>>>         it a much more challenging project. In the end I chose to
>>>>         arrive at the SE by measuring the cross-talk between two
>>>>         identical coax cables.
>>>>
>>>>         My methodology is to lay two identical cables of equal
>>>>         length next to each other on a plywood table. Both far ends
>>>>         of the coax cables are terminated in 50 ohm loads. One
>>>>         cable is driven with a tracking generator (then broadband
>>>>         power amplifier) while the other coax fed into the input of
>>>>         my spectrum analyzer. The amount of cross-talk between the
>>>>         two cables can then be used to directly see what the SE
>>>>         was. It gets hairy if the cables have a high SE as the SA
>>>>         has a limited sensitivity (NF) and I can only generate
>>>>         several watts of broadband RF from DC to about 1 GHz.
>>>>
>>>>         Until that video is done you will have to go by OEM data.
>>>>         FSJ1-50 will have an extremely high SE (well over 100 dB).
>>>>         If you need some help looking up the exact OEM data just
>>>>         hollar. 73
>>>>
>>>>         Gedas, W8BYA
>>>>
>>>>         Gallery athttp://w8bya.com
>>>>         Light travels faster than sound....
>>>>         This is why some people appear bright until you hear them
>>>>         speak.
>>>>         On 12/9/2019 1:37 PM, david vanhorn wrote:
>>>>>         I've been searching around without much success.
>>>>>         I'm trying to find data sheets or good measurements of
>>>>>         shielding effectiveness of the various coax types,
>>>>>         including FSJ1-50 for this band.  I'm not seeing anything
>>>>>         talking much below 100MHz.
>>>>>
>>>>>         Can someone point me in the right direction?
>>>>>
>>>>>         -- 
>>>>>         K1FZY (WA4TPW) SK  9/29/37-4/13/15
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>
>>>         73, Ed - KL7UW
>>>         http://www.kl7uw.com
>>>         <http://www.kl7uw.com/>Dubus-NA Business mail:
>>>         dubususa at gmail.com <mailto:dubususa at gmail.com>
>>>
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>>
>>     -- 
>>     K1FZY (WA4TPW) SK  9/29/37-4/13/15
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> K1FZY (WA4TPW) SK  9/29/37-4/13/15
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