[Heathkit] Cables

[Ron Bussiere via Heathkit]

Hi Robert. A month or so back I had a long and detailed discussion with both Heathkit and Drake owners concerning this very subject.

I used a NIST calibrated capacitance bridge to measure the capacity of RG-62 along with every other type of coaxial cable I had in my shop.

The general consensus was that RG-62 was used because it does indeed have low capacity / foot, but more importantly, it was very common 'back then'....

Because it's not the easiest stuff to work with, many responders use modern, high quality audio cable. The capacity of such cable was almost identical to the RG-62 and losses would be similar. I found a modern, well shielded audio cable that was very flexible and that adds more security on the RCA type connectors both Heath and Drake used. This also allows a person to use less.
I use it between all my Drake HF, 6M, and 2M gear and never, ever had an issue.....

If anyone is interest, PM me and I'll send the data. No sense cluttering up the reflector.

n4ue at arrl.net

ron
N4UE