[Elecraft] W2 wattmeter maximum Cat5 cable length

[Dick Green WC1M]

Thanks. First real info I've gotten. I said Cat5 because the documentation mentions it and I believe it says you can use a standard Ethernet cable.

I haven't taken a close look at the coupler circuitry. If it's like most remote couplers I've seen, a too-long cable can cause a drop in the DC voltages that carry the forward and reflected power signals. If the coupler does a conversion to digital, then the cable length wouldn't be an issue. But that sounds pretty fancy!

73, Dick WC1M

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff KC9WSJ <jeff at kc9wsj.us> 
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2018 12:47 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] W2 wattmeter maximum Cat5 cable length

the standard cable is not Cat5, it's just a ribbon cable with RJ45's (I
think?) at each end.
Cat5 should work, though, and I'd be surprised if anything less than ~50ft+ would be an issue.

--
Jeff KC9WSJ <jeff at kc9wsj.us>

On Mon, 2018-07-09 at 23:51 -0400, Dick Green wrote:
> The W2 wattmeter comes with a 5-foot Cat5 cable to connect the coupler 
> to the display unit. I need to use a longer cable, maybe 10-15 feet. 
> I’ve searched the reflector archives and web for any information about 
> the max
> Cat5 cable length but haven’t found any.
> 
> Does anyone know? Does the calibration routine in the W2 Utility 
> compensate for different cable lengths?
> 
> 73, Dick WC1M