[HCARC] Ditching and Electrical To Antenna Farm

[Gary and Arlene Johnson]

Good info on the LMR - I will check with the manuafacturer as to what they 
recommend.  I know Bill Tynan said he uses crimp on connectors, but he said 
(I think) it's because he never learned to solder very well.  The newer way 
of putting on a PL-259 onto Coax concerns where the braid is soldered onto 
the Pl-259.  Other than that, the fitting is attached in the same old way. 
I know that the center pin conductor comes loose in cheaper PL-29's because 
the heat of the solering melts the plastic shield around the pin.  This new 
way prevents that as does PL-29's with teflon vs plastic shield on the 
fitting.

As for a rotator I am thinking of a Yeasu G800DXA.  It will turn easily the 
antenna I am looking at.  Dale indicated that maybe I would want to upsize a 
rotator I might buy to cover putting on larger antennas later, but this $$$ 
drain has to come to sanity somewhere.  Putting a radio up from scratch 
(given the parameters of where you live and what you need to do) can be a 
daunting task.  I have always believed in "do it right the first time" 
instead of doing it multiple times.  Isn't insanity defined as doing the 
same thing over and over and expecting different results???

Gary J
N5BAA
HCARC Secretary 2013


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kerry Sandstrom" <kerryk5ks at hughes.net>
To: "Gary and Arlene Johnson" <qltfnish at omniglobal.net>; 
<hcarc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2013 9:14 PM
Subject: Re: [HCARC] Ditching and Electrical To Antenna Farm


> Gary,
>
> I would run one conduit for the low voltage DC and the rotator cable.  A 
> second conduit for AC power if you are really putting AC power out there, 
> and I would put those two conduits in one trench and then I would run one 
> or two conduits for the coax and put them in a second trench.  I don't 
> know about the new rotators, but the old Ham M and alliance rotators used 
> AC power, about 25 volts I think.  They used an 8-conductor cable with 2 
> of the conductors bigger than the other 6.
>
> Its not nearly impossible to weatherproof Pl-259 connectors, it is 
> impossible.  Some people wrap them in tape or put epoxy or whatever on 
> them. That is only part of the problem.  Most of the PL-259's I've seen 
> have a center conductor that is fairly loose in the insulator and often 
> the insulator is loose where it meetrs the outer conductor.  I believe 
> that is a second route for moisture to get into the conductor.  It was 
> just never designed to be weatherproof.
>
> By the way, I've seen a lot of traffic on the reflector about some "easy' 
> ways to put PL-259 connectors on coax.  When the various connector s were 
> designed in the 1940's, (by Bell Lab and the MIT Radiation Lab) they were 
> designed for specific uses and for specific coaxial cables.  The designs 
> were such that when installed according to the instructions to the 
> appropriate cables, they maintained the mechanical and electrical 
> integrity of the cable as best they could.  When you don't use the correct 
> connector with the correct cable and you don't follow the instructions 
> regarding connector installation, you lose some of that integrity.  If you 
> are serious and you buy good cable, it seems to me you should protect that 
> investment by using the appropriate connectors and installing them 
> properly.
>
> I'm not sure what connectors are designed for the LMR cables but I bet it 
> isn't a PL-259.  They probably have a similar Type UHF connector but I bet 
> it has slightly different design and installation instructions.  If 
> nothing else, the aluminum foil shield of the LMR cables would make using 
> a PL-259 difficult.  Most of the new connectors have eliminated soldering 
> all together by using a crimp design.  Appropriate crimp dies and tools 
> are available.  I've seen BNC, TNC, N, SMA and UHF crimp style connectors 
> so I suspect you can get any connector series in a crimp style.  Not only 
> does LMR cables probably require a special connector, but all the foam 
> coax does also.  RG-8 foam cable, for instance, has a larger diameter 
> center conductor that doesn't fit in the center pin of a PL-259.   Anyway, 
> bottom line is to make sure you have the correct connectors for your cable 
> and follow instructions to put the connectors on the cable.
>
> Kerry
>
>
>
>
>
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