[Boatanchors] [BoatAnchors] RBA power supply cable

[Mike Hanz]

That's a good approach, Ben.  As AB5S mentioned, I have been using other
alternatives for the same purpose.  The braided stainless washing
machine hose from Home Depot or Lowes also works well as a substitute
for the braided cables - see http://aafradio.org/flightdeck/arc5-1.jpg
for an example in my AN/ARC-5 set.  The Navy also pioneered the use of
armored aluminum flex cables back in the 1930s, but because of salt
spray, they used black rubber, and later on, black vinyl cladding to
reduce corrosion problems.  The big box stores also carry vinyl clad BX
flex cable that can be used, but you'll have to drop by the NAPA store
and get a spray can of black vinyl dye to make it look like original
Navy equipment.  There are a couple of different general types of this
flex cable - two with a steel or aluminum core and different number of
"ribs" per inch, and another one that is entirely vinyl.  The original
Navy cable used a high number of ribs per inch for more flexibility, so
it looks like smooth cable unless you are observant.  It may be useful
to find one of the high rib count types if you want it to look
original.  All the total vinyl cable I've seen seems to have fine ribs,
but then you do lose the shielding aspect.  The ferrules on your
original example are child's play with a lathe, and can be attached to
either types of cable with epoxy.  I made a tool to crimp them onto the
cable like the originals, but epoxy isn't bad if you don't manhandle the
cable too much afterwards.  You can either machine off the clamping part
of the cable clamp to retain the ferrules, or make new ones if you have
the ability to knurl and thread aluminum.  They aren't difficult to make
with the right tools - one example that I fabricated for a DU loop is
shown at DU-2_coupling_cable_parts.JPG

73,
Mike  KC4TOS

>   On 5/27/12 6:33 PM, Ben Hall wrote:
>>   The original Navy cables are an over-braided affair as shown below. I
>>   started down the path of duplicating this design, but having only
>>   clamp-type backshells with the sealed Navy-type being no longer
>>   available, I knew I couldn't get all the way.
>>
>>   Here's an original, which lives safely under lock-n-key at a secluded
>>   Arkansas location:
>>   <http://www.kd5byb.net/RBA/rba-cable1.jpg>
>>
>>   So I thought to myself - hey, I've got some left-over flex conduit from
>>   when I installed our new water heater. While not the same as an original
>>   Navy overbraid cable, maybe it's close enough. Or, maybe if the Navy
>>   knew about flex conduit back during the war, they would have used it?
>>   Who knows!
>>
>>   So here's my field-expedient, built with crap-I-had-laying-in-the-garage
>>   substitute:
>>
>>   <http://www.kd5byb.net/RBA/rba-cable2.jpg>