[Milsurplus] Coaxial Cable Question

[aGEnuine Ham]

Well, Byron,

Consolidated built a lot of coax, and I never heard then criticized for
not meeting specs.  RG-17 shield isn't very dense, you have to get into
the RG-177 double silver plated shields for full coverage.  And the 17A
designation indicates a later cable with non-contaminating jacket, so it
should last a while.  I have a 250 foot run of 17 (not-A) out to my LPDA,
partly underground, which I measured before installation.  I only use it
up to 30 MHz, and the loss at 30 MHz was considerably less than a dB, so
in it went.  I don't think any of the braided shield coax is suitable for
direct burial, however.  I use PVC pipe with numerous drain holes on the
bottom side, and it seems to stay dry enough in well drained caliche to
keep me out of trouble.  I run the rotor control cable and a couple of
runs of Romex in the same pipe, and expect that will likely give problems
before the coax does.

Oh, and by the way, expect to have to redo a connector on one end or the
other after about 5 years due to center conductor migration.  Sooner in
vertical runs, but even when run horizontally, it grows and shrinks with
temperature changes, which is why no one uses it commercially or
militarily anymore.

73,
George
W5VPQ

________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!