[Heathkit] SB-301/401 Cables

[Glen Zook]

The equipment was designed for the capacitive load of the RG62/U cables 24 inches long.  If you use longer cables you often have to realign the receiver with the cables attached to the transmitter.  Also, on 15 and 10 meters the drive from the heterodyne oscillator may drop off with cables much longer.  It is the same thing with the Collins S-Line except that the design is for RG58/U cables 48 inches long.

Basically, the receiver is supposed to sit right next to the transmitter.  Any other spacing and you are taking your chances.  Sometimes it works fine and other times there are problems.  I suspect that the differences are due to the tolerance of various components.

Now the RG58/U for the antenna connection can be any reasonable length as can be the shielded audio cables.  It is only the RG62/U cables that are fairly critical.

Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com


--- On Sun, 10/25/09, Jerry Felts <nr5ajerry at gmail.com> wrote:

In the process of getting my 401 going the first thing I want to do is replace the cables. For the RG-62 cables the manual states 24" long, why is this? For the way my setup is thats to short, could I get away with 2.5 to 3ft instead?? In the morning I'm hoping to pick up the coax cable and get started.