[Milsurplus] Coaxial Cable Question

[Cletus W Whitaker]

de WB2CPN                2004.08.04

USAF used RG-17() on all their UHF fixed ground
equipment, (GRT-3, GRR-7, GRC-27, GRC-32, etc),
and I've been a party to engineering and installing
a lot of the stuff.  No consideration was given to
center-conductor shrinkage when it was hung from the
bottom of the AT-197 antennas.  Sometimes the vertical
run was 80 feet or so, and the coax wasn't supported
very well all the way down.  It's moot whether the
center conductor shrunk, or the outer portions streched.
In later days the common fix in CRD-6's, which didn't
support the cable at all, was to remove the connector
and trim the outer portions back a half inch or so.
Now, RG-17, and maybe "A", took on water, and how I
don't even know, but at the bottom end some water
could be found.  It must have found its way down through
the AT-197, which I find highly impossible.  I never
researched it further, but it may have breaks in
the outer covering. (?)   End of Trivia.

73  Clete