[Boatanchors] Drake cable question

Sun Jun 8 17:38:15 EDT 2014

 Rodger, good points. I picked 36" just 'because'. I will determine the exact length I need when I have the twins side-by-side.
As stated, I'm doing this for 'info', because the cables I have picked are of various vintage. The RG-62 is pretty old and I was given a bunch when my buddies at the IBM plant were doing some remodeling.
I have some newer coax that didn't exist back when my T-4XB was made........

Thanks for the interest.....

ron
N4UE

BTW, I was given thousands of feet of high quality CATV hardline (5/8", 7/8". 1 1/4") a couple of years ago. Yep, it's 75 ohm, but the radios I have either have a built in tuner or a pi-network. Owning a machine shop, I make my own adapters. Try 60 elements at 115', mast mounted preamp with 7/8" hardline. Works quire well. Radios could care less.... ha ha

-----Original Message-----
From: WQ9E <WQ9E at btsnetworks.net>
To: bonddaleena <bonddaleena at aol.com>
Sent: Sat, Jun 7, 2014 6:23 pm
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Drake cable question

Hi Ron,

I have been out of town and missed the earlier part of this thread but I wanted 
to pass along that no matter what coax you find it is best to do the Drake 4 
line alignment with the  twins cabled together as they would be in normal 
operation.  This will provide the best setup for that particular set of twins.  

Modern coaxial cable probably has pretty loose capacitance control unlike the 
older stuff.  It would be interesting to compare a vintage and modern length of 
RG-62.

Three feet should be enough but exact measurement of length becomes more 
important as the length decreases since a 1 inch error in 3 foot piece is a much 
bigger percentage error than 1 inch in 10 feet.  Since you are using a NIST 
traceable instrument you should make everything exact :)

I await your results with interest!

Rodger WQ9E

-------- Original Message --------
> From: Ron Bussiere via Boatanchors <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2014 4:35 PM
> To: rayfrijr at msn.com, 1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com, boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Drake cable question
> 
> Thanks to all who have responded. I'm gonna do a simple experiment....
> I have several lab quality cap meters/bridges. One is traceable to NIST 
standards.
> When I finally find my RG-62, I am going to measure the capacity of it and 
every other coaxial cable I can get my paws on.
> I think a 3 foot sample will be OK.
> Comments??
> 
> ron
> N4UE
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RAY FRIESS <rayfrijr at msn.com>
> To: Richard Knoppow <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>; bonddaleena 
<bonddaleena at aol.com>; boatanchors <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Fri, Jun 6, 2014 8:02 pm
> Subject: RE: [Boatanchors] Drake cable question
> 
> 
> 
> You are probably thinking of the Heathkit rigs.  Heath did recommend RG 62 for 
some of the connections between the sb 300 and 400.   
> 
> 
> 
> > Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2014 16:28:17 -0700
> > From: 1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
> > To: bonddaleena at aol.com; boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> > Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Drake cable question
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > >From: Ron Bussiere via Boatanchors <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> > >Sent: Jun 6, 2014 3:43 PM
> > >To: boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> > >Subject: [Boatanchors] Drake cable question
> > >
> > >I finally found a 'rough' but complete T-4XB transmitter to go with my 
beloved R-4Bs.
> > >I have a lot of Drakes and the CDs, etc.
> > >
> > >Just wondering about the cables to connect the xmitter and rec. I know that 
RG-62 is 'recommended', and I actually may have some, In fact, I'm sure I do.
> > >However, just wondering why that 93 ohm cable was picked. Was it a matter 
of capacitance/foot, loss, resonance, what?
> > >That was a LONG time ago, and I have lots of the new low-loss RG-6, RG-59, 
RG-58. For such a small length, I'm wondering how much difference it makes on 
HF....
> > >
> > >Just an old timer trying to learn.........
> > >
> > >ron
> > >N4UE
> > 
> >     I double checked the handbook for both RX and TX and see nothing about 
recommended cable.  I use good quality hi-fi cables on my twins and they seem to 
work fine.  I have some memory that the injection cable should have relatively 
low capacitance but have not had any trouble the plain hi-fi hook up cables.  I 
am not sure if Garey Barrell, the maven from the Drake list monitors this list 
but if so I will defer to his opinion on this. 
> > 
> > 
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