[Boatanchors] remote antenna conduit?

[W4AWM at aol.com]

Hi Eugene,
 
You have some good thoughts for a difficult problem.  I have just gone  
through some of that on a miniature scale.
 
My personal feeling is that you should have as few connections as  possible 
in an outdoor setting, even with a water proof box.
 
One thing you might think about if you just want connectors on both ends is 
 to take the cable out to the antenna, cut the connector off one end and 
pull the  free end back to the shack. Then you can solder a connector back on 
in a  controlled environment. 
 
Don't forget to run a "pull line" through the conduit to make pulling  
additional cables through easy at a later date. Pull lines are available at your 
 local home supply store in the electrical department.  They are very hardy 
 and will not break easily.
 
I would use the largest diameter conduit you can afford to allow for future 
 expansion. I'd avoid flexible conduit if possible. It is more expensive 
than  rigid conduit and the rough ribbed inside makes pulling lines through 
more  difficult.  
 
At my vacation QTH, I just ran separate rigid conduits out to a shed  some 
80 feet from the cabin. Through a 2" conduit, I pulled 4 #4 copper  
conductors for AC. Through a second 1.5" conduit, I pulled the following:
2 RG-58/U, 1 RG-8X, 2 #22 quad telephone lines, 1 #14 quad speaker line, 1  
#22 6 pair line and 1 #18 twisted pair (burglar alarm).  There was a  pull 
line installed in each conduit. The pull was very easy with a snake and a  
second person to feed the lines from the far end. There were two 90  degree 
sections in each conduit run.
 
If you have any difficulty, wire pulling lubricant is available from the  
above source.
 
Take care and have fun.
 
73, 
 
 John,  W4AWM
 
 
In a message dated 9/8/2013 9:30:08 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
w2hx at w2hx.com writes:

Hello  all,

As part of building a new shack, I am taking this opportunity to  run some 
conduit from the shack out to the backyard for a vertical antenna  hidden 
amongst the trees.  In addition to coax, I'll need to run a  coupler control 
cable. I will either run my Mackay tuner out there or my  sunair 1KW tuner 
out there. Both of these tuners have an existing cable with  the circular 
MS-style connectors on the ends.

Here's the question. When  you guys run antenna cables out to your 
antennas, what size conduit do you  use? I ask because the antenna coupler 
connectors are something like 2" in  diameter! So I would imagine I would need a 3" 
diameter conduit which isn't  cheap (I am thinking of using flexible PVC).

OR: Do you guys run the  cable first, then bring the soldering iron up to 
the antenna site and solder  on the connector there? A lot of work to do in 
an uncontrolled environment but  would allow a 2" conduit to be installed 
since the connector doesn't need to  be fished through it (it would be soldered 
on after the cable  emerges).

What do you guys do?

One other possible idea.   Take the existing cable with connectors on both 
ends, and cut off say 3 feet  from the antenna end. Then I have one long 
cable with no connector that will  end near the antenna. I could then use a 
weather proof box with a barrier  strip inside and connect each of the wires in 
the control cable to this  barrier strip. Then take the 3 foot piece of 
cable with the other connector  and again attached the wires from the cut side 
to this same barrier  strip.

Thoughts?


73 Eugene  W2HX