[Elecraft] Why Does Antenna Feedline Have 2 Wires

[David A. Belsley]

Well, OK; here's a couple to add to the kitty.  (For those who weren't 
privy to Tom Hammond's addition below, I've take the liberty of leaving it 
in and sharing it with the reflector).

Also in a R/S store, a customer asked whether it was ok to use only one 
side of a 75 ohm TV antenna splitter, leaving one branch unconnected.  The 
clerk said it would be ok, but he should put some tape over the empty 
connector to keep the TV signals from draining out.

And one day a MediaOne tech came out to my house to deal with a cable 
channel that was horribly snowy (the other channels were fine).  I had a 
wonderful Maine Coon cat that used to chew everything, and he had left a 
good number of teeth marks in the jacket of several of the cables 
connecting various parts of the TV, VCR, etc. together.  The shield 
underneath was visibly in fine condition.  But the tech looked at them and 
said that must be the problem because "the TV waves were escaping through 
the holes."  I tried to explain -- but it was no use.  He replaced the 
cables and, lo and behold . . . the problem didn't go away.

Sometimes life is just too much fun to stand.

best wishes,

--On Monday, June 23, 2003 8:39 PM -0500 Tom Hammond <n0ss@earthlink.net> 
wrote:

> A few years ago I walked into a R/S store. There stood a salesman with
> the R/S version of an Amprobe in his hand and an RCA-ended audio cable
> HANGING (in an upside down "U") thru it (not attached to ANYTHING).
> There's a customer with a worried look on her face, and the salesman,
> looking at the meter saying, "Yes ma'am, it's dead. Would you like to buy
> a new set of cables?".
>
> Needless to say, I took the customer aside REAL quickly and then showed
> both how to actually check the audio cable for shorts.
>
> DUH?
>
> 73,
>
> Tom  N0SS
>
> P.S.
>
> I also had a chat with the manager of the R/S store, who didn't have a
> clue how to check cables either. GAD.
>
>
> At 03:16 PM 6/23/03, David A. Belsley wrote:
>> Oh, I get it!
>>
>> --On Monday, June 23, 2003 12:48 PM -0700 "John, KI6WX"
>> <ki6wx@pacbell.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Overheard today in local electronics store
>>>
>>> Customer:  Why does the antenna connection have 2 wires?
>>>
>>> TV Salesman:  One is for the audio and the other is for the video.
>



----------------------------------
David A. Belsley
Professor of Economics